Caucasus
Coverage across the South Caucasus — Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
US House passes a bill on Chinese and Russian influence in Georgia
The US House passed the Countering China’s Control of the Caucasus Act on 8 June, ordering a classified report on Russian and Chinese intelligence activity in Georgia. It is the sharpest sign yet of Washington’s rift with Tbilisi.
The Trans-Caspian pipeline returns to the agenda as Europe’s gas deadline nears
A pipeline idea that has circled the Caspian for thirty years looks newly serious as Europe’s 2027 deadline to drop Russian gas closes in.
Armenia keeps its course, on less than half the vote
Civil Contract will govern alone for a third term on 49.81 percent of the vote, its lowest winning share since Nikol Pashinyan took power. The campaign that delivered it is the part the celebration skips.
Pashinyan wins, and the margin tells the real story
The final results of Armenia’s parliamentary elections have cemented Nikol Pashinyan’s third consecutive term, but the tight mathematical metrics reveal a complex legislative landscape ahead. While his Civil Contract party secured enough seats to form a government single-handedly, it fell short of the constitutional supermajority required to reshape the country's institutional framework. The razor-thin margin shows that while voters backed his westward shift, they refused to hand him absolute domestic power.
Forum week: Baku signed, St. Petersburg celebrated, Riga quietly worked
Three gatherings, one week, one pipeline. A tour of the parallel universes of Eurasian energy diplomacy.
Four days out: Washington names Moscow's play in Armenia
Secretary Rubio told the Senate on Tuesday that Russia wants Pashinyan to lose. The claim lands in the middle of the dirtiest election campaign Armenia has seen in years.
Armenia on the eve: what the campaign actually settled
Tomorrow Armenians vote. The result looks predictable. The questions it raises are not.
Baku Energy Week: $7.5 billion in contracts, a green corridor pitch, and Central Asia in the room
Azerbaijan's minister framed the Caspian region as a new energy space. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were named as corridor partners. $7.5 billion in contracts signed at the forum.
Campaign over, silence begins: what Armenia goes into 7 June with
Pashinyan leads by a wide margin among decided voters. A third of the electorate is still undecided. Tomorrow is the day of silence. Sunday is the vote.
Armenia T-3: Civil Contract leads by a distance, but a third of voters are still undecided
The latest polling aggregate puts Pashinyan at 46% of decided voters. The undecided bloc is large enough to change the outcome. Campaign ends tomorrow.
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The silence before the vote: what Armenia's campaign says about 7 June
Pashinyan leads but is weaker than at any point since 2018. The opposition is fragmented but financed. The campaign ends Thursday.
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BTK goes full throttle: the upgraded Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway enters operation
Capacity jumped from 1 to 5 million tonnes a year. The Middle Corridor's western spine is no longer a bottleneck.
The train to Brussels runs on Russian rails
Armenia wants to end Moscow’s monopoly on its railways, electricity and gas. The 7 June election will determine whether it can
Baku-Supsa pipeline returns: Kazakhstan oil joins the rerouting
A deal signed during Kobakhidze’s Baku visit on 18 May restores a dormant Caspian export route, and Astana is already looking at it