EAP Think Bridge - № 2020-20 - Border Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan (PIC Promotion of the Intercultural Cooperation, 2020)
During the first year at the office, President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelenskyy hardly managed to set, or at least explain his team's foreign policy priorities. However, the Eastern Partnership did not go unnoticed on his agenda in multiple dimensions: as an instrument of cooperation with the European Union, as a region as a whole, and at the level of bilateral contacts with partner countries. Which of these tracks was more important and who did Ukraine manage to work with more efficiently while ignoring other capitals so far? The results of the first year of President Zelenskyy for the Eastern Partnership are analyzed by Hanna Shelest. Meanwhile, in May, election campaigns launched in three countries of the region. In Belarus it started with the crackdown on the opposition, fines and arrests. In Moldova President Dodon started campaigning, in spite of all anti-epidemic measures.
In the meantime, in Georgia it is still not clear which law will be applied to the parliamentary elections in October as the authorities and the opposition are still failing to find compromise. Last month, Armenia was one of the first to lift quarantine restrictions and immediately faced a new wave of incidence of COVID-19. The prime minister and his entire family tested positively for coronavirus. In May, Azerbaijan faced a wave of arrests, with both the opposition and government officials behind bars. And Ukraine managed to get into two high-profile international scandals and new difficulties in relations with its partners, the United States and Georgia. All these and other major developments of the month in the countries of the Eastern Partnership are analyzed in our traditional reviews.
//// CONTENT: Analytica: Border Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan: Military and Political Implications // Azerbaijan: Authorities' War on Two Fronts // Armenia: COVID-19 Eases, but Armenia is Badly Shaken // Belarus: Pre-Election Repressions and Economic Voluntarism // Georgia: First Parliamentarian Candidates are Registered // Moldova: Economy remains Fragile and Domestic Stability Volatile // Ukraine: Hot July before Political Summer Break