... important meetings: on August 8, 2016 in Baku, President Putin
met
with Presidents of Azerbaijan and Iran; on August 9, Mr. Putin
met with
R. Erdogan in St. Petersburg; it was their first meeting after the Russian fighter plane being shot down in Syria. Thus, these meetings signify the countries’... ... the effect the Middle Eastern crisis has on the situation in the Caucasus.
Next year, Armenia enters an electoral cycle. The Russian factor will not be of primary importance... ... Armenia will be forced to make unfounded concessions so that Azerbaijan could join the EEU. The implication is that Moscow does not intend to force any country into the EEU...
... amounts of money on low-performing assets.
Geopolitical risks
EPA/SONG FULAI/Vostock Photo
Anna Tikhonova:
Sweet-and-Sour Sino-Russian Gas Project
Cooperation between the EU and the EEU in South Caucasus faces many geopolitical challenges and obstacles.
Firstly, the region of the South Caucasus remains very unstable because of
two frozen conflicts and territorial disputes
. The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has seen an escalation over the last year: in 2015 clashes on borders claimed the lives of 90 Azeri soldiers
[25]
...
... cooperation (MTC) with Azerbaijan plays the most negative role in the perception of the former within Armenian society and the elite.
Accordingly, Russia’s reduction in investments and the lack of obvious benefits for Armenia from its membership in the EEU make the socio-economic sphere look even more problem-plagued, at least in the eyes of the Armenian public.
Russia’s military-technical cooperation with Azerbaijan has intensified since 2011
[4]
, when Moscow began supplying Baku with S-300PMU2 anti-aircraft missile systems, Mi-35M attack helicopters, and then other armaments. However, progress in Russian-Azerbaijani MTC had been notable in previous ...
... Армении
The mass protests that swept Yerevan and other Armenian cities in June 2015 put Armenia at the focus of attention ... ... political situation in Armenia, which sees itself as an ally of Russia, is extremely important for Moscow’s foreign policy ... ... Yerevan has been an official member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)
[3]
. Third, Moscow plays a very important role in the process ... ... in mind, however, that however passive Russia may be, neither Azerbaijan nor Armenia, which are directly involved in the ethno-political ...
