By Benyamin POGHOSYAN, PhD, Chairman, Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies

The discussions about possible Armenia – Azerbaijan peace treaty surfaced again during the last Pashinyan – Aliyev meeting held in Brussels on April 6, 2022. At their meeting which was hosted by the European council president, Charles Michel, the two leaders agreed to instruct their foreign ministers to prepare for the start of the negotiations. On April 11, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers held a phone talk and discussed the details of the upcoming process. The EU was not the only external actor pushing forward for the peace deal. Before and after the April 6 meeting in Brussels, Aliyev and Pashinyan spoke separately with Russian President Putin, who emphasized the significance of peace and reiterated Russia's willingness to support Armenia and Azerbaijan. The US Secretary of State Blinken also confirmed the US readiness to facilitate the comprehensive settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. READ MORE

• April 21, 2022

Ukraine's allies have pledged to send more weapons to help it defend against a renewed Russian offensive.

• April 20, 2022

Fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region is intensifying after Russia launched a new offensive in the area.

• April 20, 2022

Russia has moved most of the focus of its war to eastern Ukraine, after pulling back its forces from near the capital Kyiv. Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky says the battle for the area known as Donbas has begun and a very large part of Russia's army is taking part.

• April 20, 2022

Dramatic pictures - and a credible video - showing the Russian warship Moskva before it sank last week have appeared online.

• April 18, 2022

In a picturesque resort town on the northern edge of Ukraine's Donbas region, people can hear the shelling coming closer. The Russians are just five miles to the north.

• April 18, 2022

Repenting historical wrongs is a national pastime in Germany. But even by German standards, the soul-searching over Berlin's Russia policy is remarkable.

• April 18, 2022

Joint Armenian-Azerbaijani Liaison Group on confidence-building measures

The Joint Armenian-Azerbaijani Liaison Group on confidence-building measures in support of lasting peace in the South Caucasus has published its report in which it proposes 30 short, medium and long term measures in support of ongoing efforts to establish peace in the region. On Wednesday, 6 April, members of the Working Group, presented their report to the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, and other EU officials at a special briefing in Brussels. In their report, published on the eve of the meeting between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan and the president of the European Union in Brussels on 6 April, the group says that "all the ingredients for peace exist in the South Caucasus. All the ingredients for war exist too. What is in front of us is a choice". The group says that the proposed measures are a building block in the quest for peace but if the ideas being proposed are implemented the objective of building a peaceful, secure and prosperous South Caucasus will be much closer to being achieved. It was now necessary that all concerned should put effort into turning the thirty measures being proposed in the report into tangible action.
The work of the Joint Liaison Group was co-ordinated and facilitated by LINKS Europe - an independent foundation based in The Hague, The Netherlands - in the framework of the European Union's EU4Peace initiative. READ MORE

• April 13, 2022