Putin’s war in Ukraine may cost him control of the south Caucasus
The prospects of peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia are weakening Russia’s influence
FOR MOST people, geopolitics is an abstraction. For those living in the south Caucasus, which consists of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia, it is a daily experience. The region between the Black and Caspian seas, Europe and Asia, sits at the crossroads of old empires: Ottoman, Persian and Russian. Situated alongside the belligerents of today’s most dangerous wars—Russia’s against Ukraine and the Iranian-Israeli conflict—it illustrates like few other regions the rise of middle powers and retreat of big ones.
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This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “At the crossroads of empires”
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