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Russian deputy governor of border region arrested in corruption case
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Russian deputy governor of border region arrested in corruption case

25 August 2025
Russia has once again prosecuted a former regional administrator bordering Ukraine. This time, the case concerns Vladimir Bazarov, the former deputy governor of Kursk. He has been arrested. He is suspected of corruption in connection with the embezzlement of around 10 million euros during the construction of defensive structures. This information was reported by the state press agency TASS.
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Happy Birthday Ukraine
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Happy Birthday Ukraine

24 August 2025
Today is Ukraine's Independence Day. The editorial team of commonspace.eu congratulate the Ukrainian People on their national holiday. Ukraine’s Independence Day, celebrated annually on August 24, marks the declaration of Ukraine’s sovereignty from the Soviet Union in 1991. This historic day was a defining moment for the Ukrainian people, as the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) passed the Act of Declaration of Independence following the failed coup attempt in Moscow. This decision was a pivotal step in Ukraine's quest to rebuild its national identity and chart a new course in global politics. The day has taken an added significance in the last four years as Ukraine and Ukrainians fought off an unprovoked Russian invasion launched in February 2022. The courage, determination and resilience of the Ukrainian people have humbled and inspired all those who strive for peace and justice in the world.  Ahead of Ukraine's 34th anniversary of independence on 24 August, the European Union delivered another strong signal of unwavering support by disbursing €4.05 billion to the country. This includes €3.05 billion via the Ukraine Facility and €1 billion through the European Commission's exceptional Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA).  
commonspace.eu editorial team
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Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan hold important trilateral meeting
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Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan hold important trilateral meeting

23 August 2025
Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan held important trilateral meetings in the Turkmen city of Turkmenbashi on Friday, 22 August. Joint development of deposits on the Caspian shelf and cooperation in the field of energy exports, including renewable sources, were discussed. The talks came in the framework of the visit to Turkmenistan of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and President Shovkat Mirzizoyev of  Uzbekistan who were hosted by the Chairman of the Halk Maslahaty (Senate) of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, who is a former president and the father of the current president, Serdar Berdimuhamedov. Azerbaijani media noted that during the meeting Uzbekistan hailed a scheme to export green electricity to Europe as promising, while Turkmen officials signaled a new openness to ideas long discussed in Brussels and Ankara, to build a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, a project that has been under discussion for more than 30 years.

Focus on the South Caucasus

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Abu Dhabi: What Next for Armenia and Azerbaijan?
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Abu Dhabi: What Next for Armenia and Azerbaijan?

15 July 2025
Depending on whom you ask, last week’s meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi was either a historic development or simply another routine step in the still-fragile peace process. In an interview with Slovak media prior to the talks last week, Azerbaijani presidential advisor Hikmet Hajiyev even claimed the conflict between the sides is now over. Both sides believed that they were now the closest to formalising a peace treaty than at any time before.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Peace Has Never Been This Close Between Armenia and Azerbaijan
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Peace Has Never Been This Close Between Armenia and Azerbaijan

15 July 2025
After a long hiatus following the Brussels summit facilitated by Charles Michel, then President of the European Council, in July 2023, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met on July 10, 2025, in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to advance their peace process. Although they had met on several occasions over the past two years, those encounters took place on the sidelines of international gatherings, with substantive negotiations typically conducted by official representatives behind closed doors. The Abu Dhabi meeting was particularly significant as it marked the first bilateral summit in recent years organized directly by the two sides, without the mediation of a major power.
Vasif Huseynov

Monday Commentary

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The world is in a mess, but it is not the time to despair or give up
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The world is in a mess, but it is not the time to despair or give up

28 July 2025
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, is the world’s most senior civil servant. His words, especially in the last year, have been tense, terse and delivered with a sense of urgency, as he tries to convey to world statesmen, and the world public, the need for urgent, large-scale action to deal with the global problems that seem to be overwhelming the world body. The challenges are enormous, and the response, if it is to be effective, has to be proportionate in size and scope. 
Dennis Sammut
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LINKS Europe holds expert conference in The Hague on political transition in the South Caucasus
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LINKS Europe holds expert conference in The Hague on political transition in the South Caucasus

8 April 2025
A conference organised in The Hague by LINKS Europe Foundation brought together experts and activists from the South Caucasus, the European Union and beyond to discuss the current state of political transition in the region. The gathering gave particular attention to the European Union's evolving role in the region amidst rapidly changing domestic and regional dynamics as well as Türkiye's influence as a regional power.
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Opinion: Wounds and Empathy in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
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Opinion: Wounds and Empathy in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict

12 March 2025
Upon visiting Karabakh in 1994, there were two possible routes for my return to Yerevan. The first was the same way I arrived by military helicopter, and the second was by road. With no highway in place at the time, that would take longer and prove more challenging. Even if the helicopter on the way to Karabakh had to perform an evasive manoeuvre when the pilot was informed of Azerbaijani activity in the area, it was by far the quickest and made the journey in under 45 minutes rather than an estimated 12 hours by road. I had spent less than three hours in Yerevan upon arrival from London and over a week in Karabakh. A few days would barely be enough for meetings with Vazgen Sargsyan in Yerevan and the Locum Tenens Catholicos in Etchmiadzin. I also had to meet Seta Melkonian, recently widowed wife of Monte, and two local journalists reporting on the conflict.
Onnik James Krikorian
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Finnish President of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly in trouble after meeting Russian representative
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Finnish President of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly in trouble after meeting Russian representative

12 April 2025
The President of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly, Finnish MP Pia Kauma (NCP), met with a Russian representative during the annual meeting of the organisation’s Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan drawing fire for violating the EU policy of isolating Russia after the invasion of Ukraine three years ago.
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Georgia in limbo
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Georgia in limbo

1 June 2025
The resignation of three key figures in the Georgian leadership, who had direct access to Georgia’s de facto leader, Bidzina Ivanishvili, leaves Prime Minister Irakli Kobahidze vulnerable and exposed. The Georgian political crises that started with the elections held in October 2024 which the opposition, and most of the world, considered flawed, is now in its eight month. In the meantime a large number of opposition activists and leaders have been jailed. Kobahidze and his government believed that the opposition efforts will fizzle out. They have not. Now Kobahidze and his inner circle look increasingly tired and embattled. Georgia has been in limbo for months. Young people are getting worried about their future. The crises is entering a new phase.
commonspace.eu editorial team
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Armenia and Azerbaijan Dialogue in the context of the European Political Community
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Armenia and Azerbaijan Dialogue in the context of the European Political Community

12 June 2025
The latest European Political Community summit held in Tirana in May this year, featured Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev at a time when Baku’s period of bad blood with Brussels seems to be over and Europe once again is viewed as a constructive partner. It is not a coincidence that Aliyev briefly met Pashinyan in Tirana for the first time in months and even had a seemingly friendly conversation with French President Macron despite the two countries’ intense feud.
Murad Muradov

Focus on Central Asia

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Landmark EU - Central Asia summit held in Samarkand
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Landmark EU - Central Asia summit held in Samarkand

4 April 2025
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa travelled to Uzbekistan to participate in a landmark EU–Central Asia summit. Held on 3–4 April, the event brings together EU leaders with the heads of state and government of the five Central Asian republics. Alongsidei the host, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the summit was also attended by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Turkmen President Serdar Berdimuhamedov.
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Great power interest in Central Asia putting Uzbekistan in the spotlight
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Great power interest in Central Asia putting Uzbekistan in the spotlight

5 May 2025
In recent times, Central Asia’s most populous nation has become the centre of attention for great powers, underscored by high level diplomatic contacts with the United States, the hosting of a regional summit with the leadership of the European Union and a high profile visit by hundreds of Russian officials and executives who participated in a trade fair in Tashkent. Western interest centres on Uzbekistan’s abundant reserves of critical minerals and a desire to develop clean energy  sources, including nuclear power. Russia, along with China, has broader trade interests, including developing manufacturing capacity.
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Focus on NGOs

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LINKS Europe hosts inaugural Co-Chairs meeting of the Thematic Group on Peace and Security
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LINKS Europe hosts inaugural Co-Chairs meeting of the Thematic Group on Peace and Security

11 April 2025
The inaugural meeting of the two co-chairs of the thematic group on Peace and Security was hosted in The Hague by LINKS Europe in parallel with the Armenia-Azerbaijan Expert Political Dialogue Platform. During the meeting held on 2 April and chaired by LINKS Europe, Leonid Nersissian (Armenia) and Murad Muradov (Azerbaijan) discussed the work plan for the next nine months.
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Armenians and Azerbaijanis discuss how to shape a dialogue best suited for today's realities as LINKS Europe kicks off new initiative
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Armenians and Azerbaijanis discuss how to shape a dialogue best suited for today's realities as LINKS Europe kicks off new initiative

31 January 2025
LINKS Europe held its first event within the recently launched EU4Peace III programme in Tbilisi on Thursday 30 January. Armenian and Azerbaijani participants engaged in an open and constructive discussion on how to shape a dialogue best suited to today's realities. As part of the initiative, LINKS Europe will shortly launch five thematic groups: The thematic groups, with Armenian and Azerbaijani participants will discuss the following topics: (1) Climate Change & the Green Economy; (2) Peace & Security; (3) Governance; (4) Regional Connectivity; (5) Gender and Diversity . On 2nd April, at a meeting in The Hague, LINKS Europe will launch the Armenia-Azerbaijan Expert Political Dialogue Platform. The platform is a parallel, mutually reenforcing initiative bringing together experienced Armenian and Azerbaijani experts and stakeholders. It is expected that one of the main tasks of the platform in 2025 will be to support the thematic groups, particularly in the phase of preparation of their reports. The EU4Peace III action, supported and funded by the European Union, aims to contribute to the sustainable normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. By broadening the engagement of social groups, the initiative aims to link political processes to wider societal transformation.
LINKS Europe

commonspace.eu is an activity of LINKS Europe, an independent foundation based in The Hague, The Netherlands. We focus on issues related to European peace and security, Europe's neighbouring regions, including Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia; North Africa and the Sahel, the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. LINKS Europe is committed to contributing to a better future by increasing understanding of complex foreign policy issues, by promoting dialogue and confidence-building as tools for helping to resolve conflict, and by engaging citizens in the process of building peace and security on the basis of solidarity and mutual respect. Through commonspace.eu, we aim to provide insights and analysis on different topics in our area of interest and a platform for diverse opinions.

Read LINKS Europe's work programme for the two-year period 2024-2025 here