Russia and the South Caucasus: Agendas, Priorities and Realities - 2019: Page 4 of 9

between the republics of the South Caucasus and Russia, but all these are dreams... Russia is so much stronger than the republics of the South Caucasus, either individually or combined, that it can afford not to notice our noble intellectual efforts. According to the Kremlin, we should all just shut up and do what is dictated to us. Nagorno Karabakh is a hook on which both Armenia and Azerbaijan are hanging. Whoever wants to escape to the West will not receive Karabakh (the same is with Abkhazia, probably there are politicians in Georgia who hope that the proclamation of toasts for the health of the Kremlin rulers can return to Abkhazia). And now, both Armenia and Azerbaijan go out of their way to prove their loyalty to the Kremlin and, thus, establish their jurisdiction in Nagorno-Karabakh. As for the “rapprochement of the Russian-Azerbaijani establishment,” it is not there. These are just the dreams of the current Azerbaijani elite, which thinks that if they indulge Moscow in everything, Karabakh will be returned to them. In fact, the Kremlin has one big demand – to return to its full influence in Azerbaijan by bringing the Russian troops back (they were withdrawn from Azerbaijan back in 1993). This demand is part of the Kremlin’s plan to resolve the conflict - Yerevan must return some of the occupied territories, but “to establish trust and lasting peace,” peacekeeping troops should be brought onto the confrontation line." And whose troops will these be? Of course, Russian! Azerbaijan, as you can see, has not agreed to step in this direction, hoping to resolve the issue by mutual awards of friendship medals and minor concessions in the economic and foreign policy spheres, so there is no rapprochement so far.

Gela Vasadze - The theme of the importance of our countries for the Russian Federation, each individually and all together, is a topic for a book, and not just one. The problem is that not only our neighbors, but also our own population and even some of our experts do not fully understand what this very significance consists in. And here you need to consider each topic and even each individual case very carefully. For example, how significant the company GruzRosEnergo owning power lines in Georgia is for Russia. Or how important the question of connecting the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway with the Trans-Siberian Railway is significant to Russia to transport its and not only its cargo to Turkish ports, as the railway passes through the Georgian territory and for which Georgia pays a loan of $ 700 million to Azerbaijan. The list goes on, and it is quite long. But this is what lies on the surface. There are other questions, for example, the issue of Russian migrants in Georgia. According to official figures, there are more than 80 thousand people. These are people who have a permanent residence permit in Georgia. In fact, they are many times more, Georgia simply has a very liberal migration legislation, one can live here for a year without any permission, leave for a couple of