Europe & Central Asia

Azerbaijan is keen to resettle territories regained from Armenian control. Landmines are its largest headache. To woo foreign support, Baku should be more welcoming of outside expertise. Along with Yerevan, it should also unlink demining from the conflict and consider joining the landmine ban treaty.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced Europe to rethink its security and defence architecture. In this video, Crisis Group Trustee Bert Koenders talks about sharpening geopolitical lines in Europe following the war in Ukraine.

As peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan continue, Baku has opened a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor, the sole road connecting Armenia to the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, raising fears of a new surge in fighting. In this Q&A, Crisis Group experts discuss the risks. 

This week on War & Peace, Olga Oliker and Elissa Jobson talk with Janka Oertel, director of the Asia Programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations, about the fast-evolving EU-China relationship and Beijing’s role in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Kosovo-Serbia relations have floundered in recent months, reflecting underlying tensions over Kosovo’s northern municipalities. In this excerpt from the Watch List 2023 – Spring Update, Crisis Group encourages the EU to mediate and promote normalisation of relations between the two countries.

Now Is Not the Time to Create a Special Tribunal for Russia

This week on Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Olga Oliker, Crisis Group’s Europe and Central Asia Program director, about the latest from the front lines in Ukraine, Kyiv’s long-awaited counteroffensive, what might change Moscow’s calculations and Western capitals’ stamina in supporting Ukraine.

In its latest foreign policy blueprint, published at the end of March, the Kremlin outlines ambitious but vague plans for countering the United States and Washington’s allies around the globe

Major gas finds in the eastern Mediterranean seabed over the last ten years have fuelled ambitions to link the region’s energy markets and, in turn, bring its countries in conflict to the negotiating table. These great expectations have proven outsized, but smaller-scale objectives are achievable.