RUSSIA AND THE SOUTHERN CAUCASUS: REALITY AND ECONOMIC COOPERATION STRATEGIES

Raphael ULTANBAEV

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Raphael Ultanbaev, Ph.D. (Econ.), chief researcher at the Center of Foreign Economic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of International Economic and Political Research (Moscow, Russia)

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The Southern Caucasus is one of the most important geopolitical and geo-economic CIS zones in Russia’s sphere of vitally important interests. One of the main reasons for this is Russia’s close historical, geographical, economic, political, and strategic ties with this region’s countries—Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. However, the instability in this potentially conflict-intensive region is having a strong impact on the situation in the Northern Caucasus and on the security of the Russian Federation as a whole. The South Caucasian vector is the “hottest” area of Russian foreign policy. It is characterized by dynamic, complicated, and urgent problems, which have geostrategic dimensions.

The geo-economic significance of the Southern Caucasus for Russia is defined by many factors. The region has large promising supplies of hydrocarbons (in the neighboring Caspian zone), as well as deposits of polymetallic ores (manganese, copper and molybdenum concentrates, and so on). Its strategic value as a transit territory is also growing, through which gas and oil pipelines linking Europe and Asia are beginning to be built.

The South Caucasian states are also interested in close cooperation with Russia. They are tied to their northern neighbor by a common history, as well as cultural and human relations. What is more, these countries are…………………

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