The longest-running conflict in the former Soviet Union appears to have come to a dramatic end with Azerbaijan’s “lightning offensive” against the (unrecognized) Armenian state of Nagorno-Karabakh following a nine-month-long blockade of the region. Azerbaijan’s victory has been followed by the flight of virtually the entire Armenian population of the territory. Azerbaijan’s use of military force to achieve what decades of diplomacy had sought to achieve peacefully has dramatically changed the power balance in the southern Caucasus. The humanitarian crisis that ensued as well as the broader geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts taking hold involve not only Iran, Russia, and Turkey but also actors such as the U.S., the E.U., and Israel.  

To analyze and discuss these developments and their implications, Shujaat Ahmadzada, independent researcher was joined by Lara Setrakian, President of the Applied Policy Research Institute of Armenia. Anatol Lieven, Eurasia Director at the Quincy Institute, moderated the conversation.