DEC. 29 2020 (The Bulletin) — The British Army is studying Azerbaijan’s victory in a war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh last year as a template for future conflicts, the Guardian newspaper reported. It said that the British Army was impressed with Azerbaijan’s use of Turkish drones.
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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin
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DEC. 28 2020 (The Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s army blamed an Armenian group for attacking one of its units and killing a soldier in Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian officials said there had been sporadic fighting in the region but denied that its forces had attacked Azerbaijani forces. Azerbaijan took control of most of Nagorno-Karabakh after a Russia-imposed peace deal ended a war last year.
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— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin
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JULY 30 (The Bulletin) — Turkey sent soldiers to Azerbaijan for a high-profile joint military exercise with the Azerbaijani military. The military exercise was deliberately high-profile as Turkey wanted to send a message to Armenia that it was supporting Azerbaijan, one of its closest allies, in the neighbours’ dispute over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Earlier in July at least 15 soldiers were killed when fighting broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the worst in four years.
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— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.
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JULY 24 (The Bulletin) — Russian President Vladimir Putin described fighting between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh earlier in July that killed at least 15 soldiers as “very sensitive”. Analysts had been looking for official reaction from Mr Putin on the fighting, the worst for four years. They have said that he was likely to have applied pressure to both sides to stop the fighting escalating.
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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
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
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
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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
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APRIL 5 (The Bulletin) — At least two people have now died with COVID-19 in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz health workers said. They both died in a hospital in Nookat in the south of the country, the epicentre of the outbreak in Kyrgyzstan. Officials have said that pilgrims returning from the Hajj in Mecca to their homes in and around Osh and Jala-Abad spread the coronavirus.
Looking to deflect criticism pf the government’s response to the spread of the coronavirus, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov sacked health minister Kosmosbek Cholponbayev and deputy PM Altynai Omurbekova (April 1). He said that they had been too slow to identify the source of the virus in the country and said that their work was “unsatisfactory”.
The state-of-emergency forced a court in Bishkek to postpone the trial of former president Almazbek Atambayev and 13 other defendants who are charged with inciting deadly clashes with the security forces in August 2019 (March 30).
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— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin
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APRIL 5 (The Bulletin) — Armenia has the most reported cases of the coronavirus in any country in the Central Asia and South Caucasus region. It has now said that there are 822 cases in Armenia and that seven people have died.
The Armenia-administered territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which Azerbaijan also claims sovereignty over, held elections despite the spread of the coronavirus (March 31). Two candidates who back Mr Pashinyan will go into a final round of voting , set for for April 14.
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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
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
— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020