Tag Archives: international relations

Armenians and Azerbaijanis brawl in Russia

MOSCOW/JULY 24 (The Bulletin) — Armenians and Azerbaijanis in Moscow and St Petersburg fought and brawled in the streets as tension spilled over from fighting around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus.

AP reported that police in St Petersburg had detained dozens of people during the street fighting. In Moscow, police said that they had also detained 30 people.

Russia is a major destination for migrant workers from Central Asia and the South Caucasus, including people from Armenia and Azerbaijan. The neighbours have officially been at war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the early 1990s, although a 1994 UN-imposed ceasefire has mainly held a shaky peace.

The fighting in mid-July killed an estimated 15 soldiers and was the worst for four years.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

China-led AIIB approves loan to Georgia

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JULY 22 (The Bulletin) — The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved a 50m loan to Georgia to help it buy more PPE clothing to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Reuters reported that the loan was jointly financed by the World Bank and is the second AIIB loan to Georgia after a $100m loan was provided in May. Critics of the AIIB have said that China uses it to spread its influence.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Turkmenistan joins WTO as observer

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JULY 22 (The Bulletin) — Turkmenistan took what some observers said was a giant step towards shrugging off some of its isolationist attitudes when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) granted it observer status.

Turkmen officials formally applied for observer status in May and said that it would negotiate full membership of the WTO within five years. Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Belarus are the other former Soviet countries still not members of the WTO.

Observer status is considered a stepping stone to full status, a way for a country’s deputies to mug up on how the WTO works and to start making connections and building influence. Turkmenistan has previously shunned WTO membership, preferring to strike bilateral deals.

International economists, though, have been urging Turkmenistan to join WTO to give itself more flexibility over how it strikes deals.

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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

US warship docks at Georgian port of Batumi

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JUNE 23 (The Bulletin) — The US warship USS Porter docked in the Georgian Black Sea port of Batumi, part of a regular series of visits by the US Navy. Georgia aspires to join the NATO military alliance and, to the irritation of Russia, regularly hosts NATO militaries for joint exercises.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

China wants to speed up BRI projects in Tajikistan post-Covid

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DUSHANBE/JUNE 17 (The Bulletin) — Tajikistan and China should speed up projects linked to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative to counter the impact of an anti-coronavirus lockdown, media reported Chinese President Xi Jinping as saying to his Tajik counterpart, Rustam Emomali, in a telephone conversation.

The reported conversation will concern analysts in the West who say that China already treats Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and, to a lesser extent, the other Central Asian states, as vassal countries which are tied into its expansive Belt and Road Initiative.

It has handed out billions of dollars in soft loans over the past decade in return for influence and business contracts.

In May, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov asked China for debt relief to help it deal. Instead, Beijing stepped up consignments of protective equipment and aid, a strategy that some analysts described as “photogenic”.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Russia plot to kill journalist was foiled, says Georgian security services

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JUNE 16 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s security services said that it had foiled a Russia-backed plot to assassinate a Georgian journalist who mimicked Russian President Vladimir Putin last year. The journalist, Nika Gvamaria, swore on TV when referencing Mr Putin last year, a tirade that the authorities said encouraged violent anti-Russia protests.

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— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Assylum seekers from Armenia have dropped, says the Netherlands

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MARCH 30 (The Bulletin) — The Dutch government said that the number of asylum seekers from Armenia has dropped significantly since a revolution in April/May 2018 that propelled Nikol Pashinyan to become Armenia’s PM. According to media reports, the Netherlands now considers Armenia to be a “safe country of origin”.

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— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Gazprom wants to increase price of gas for Armenia’s poorest

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YEREVAN/April 1 (The Bulletin) — Gazprom Armenia has applied to the country’s Public Services Regulatory Commission to increase the price of gas that it supplies to the poorest sections of Armenian society from August, media reported (April 1).

Any move by Gazprom Armenia to increase the price it charges Armenian households for gas will be difficult to pull off. The impact of the coronavirus has undermined households’ ability to pay higher prices and Armenian society has a reputation for resisting utility price rises. In 2015 a proposed electricity price rise in Armenia led to major protests in Yerevan and an eventual climbdown.

Reports said that from Aug. 1, Gazprom Armenia wants to charge households on social benefits 36% more for their gas and to slightly reduce the price paid by other households. The overall effect would be to equal out pricing. There is no publicly available data on the number of low-income households on social benefits.

Armenian officials lined up to criticise the proposed price increase, calling it inappropriate given the probable economic impact of the spread of the coronavirus.

“Given the current situation in the global energy market, we consider it appropriate to start new negotiations on reducing the price of thousand cubic meters of gas on the Armenian-Georgian border,” Armenia’s deputy PM Mher Grigoryan wrote in a letter to the chairman of Gazprom, Alexei Miller.

The Russian side has not responded but negotiations are expected to be fraught. When Russia has previously increased the price it charges Armenia for gas, the Armenian government has said that it will switch to buying gas from its neighbour Iran with which it has built up friendly relations over the past decade.

Media also reported that Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the proposed gas price rises. He said that gas should be priced in roubles, which has fallen in value over the past month because of a slump in oil prices and the impact of the spread of the coronavirus.

“We believe that it will be more correct and logical to pay for gas in roubles,” Mr Pashinayn was quoted as saying.

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— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Uzbekistan wants to be taken off list that restricts trade with the US

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APRIL 3 (The Bulletin) — Uzbekistan has asked the United States to remove it from the list of countries which falls under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment that restricts US trade relations, media reported. The Jackson-Vanik Amendment was introduced in 1975 and restricts US trade with countries with a poor human rights record and which ban emigration. Uzbekistan is still subject to the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, although it has opened up since 2016 when the reclusive Islam Karimov died and Shavkat Mirziyoyev took over as president. Since then, Mr Mirziyoyev has lifted restrictions on Uzbeks leaving the country, invited back various human rights and media groups and moved to cut out forced labour in its cotton sector.

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— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

India wins $40m deal to supply Armenia with military radars

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MARCH 18 (The Bulletin) — India has won a $40m military supply deal to sell radars to Armenia, media reported. Media in India reported that the deal was signed on March 1 and boosts India’s military status in the region, normally considered Russia’s sphere of influence. India has been trying to boost its influence in the Central Asia and South Caucasus.

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— This story was first published in issue 440 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin