Международные отношения. Международное право

A book focuses on Russia’s efforts to resolve the ethnopolitical conflict in Transcaucasia that had grown into a real war, especially at the most difficult stage of active and fierce hostilities, right up to the conclusion of a ceasefire agreement, in effect since 12 May 1994. The author, Vladimir Kazimirov, who was the head of Russia’s mediatory mission, Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian President for Political Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (1992–1996), reveals the content of the mediator’s very complicated work with the conflicting parties, full of all kinds of vicissitudes, offering characterisations of the participants in that process and an assessment of their positions. Worthy of note are the judgements of the author, a one-time participant in, and co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, on cooperation and rivalry with Western partners which sought, in the guise of conflict settlement efforts, to restrict or curtail Russia’s influence in the region. The book incorporates the author’s articles and statements on the Karabakh conflict. The appendix contains international documents on the settlement of the conflict, as well as documents on Russia’s mediation and a timeline of Karabakh settlement.

Since the announcement of the pivot to Asia, enough time has passed to sum up the results and to evaluate the existing achievements and failures of Russia’s new policy. However, despite some breakthrough, many issues remain open Most of the government’s attempts in this area have not led to any fundamental changes, as the measures taken are often unsystematic and inconsistent. The majority of the actions are reactive, taken after the challenges have emerged. Therefore, further development of the region requires some more dynamic actions and larger strategy, where the central place belongs to Russian Far East and Siberia. Thus, our task is to determine the content of the «pivot to Asia» policy, its possible directions and the main format.