The former-Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan has attracted a notable degree of attention amongst the international investor community due to the impressive potential of its hydrocarbons sector. The country’s vast (and still largely untapped) oil and gas fields, located in the strategically important Caspian Sea basin, provide the source for major energy transport arteries such as the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. Future energy transport projects of strategic relevance to the European Union...

This paper briefly outlines the conventional threats to the security of the five former Soviet states of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It also attempts to identify the common features contributing to insecurity in the region. The new and quite disturbing threat to regional insecurity – the growing risk of a spillover of insurgency into the region from Afghanistan is also discussed.