The South Caucasus as one of the priority geopolitical regions of the post-Soviet space for Russia: geographical analysis

Abstract

The article is focused on identifying the properties of the territory of the countries of the South Caucasus / Transcaucasia (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia), influencing Russian foreign policy. Based on an assessment of the geopolitical situation of the region and content analysis of the official document regulating the modern foreign policy of Russia “The Concept of Russian Foreign Policy” (2023), four groups of interests are identified: military-political, territorial, social, economic. Military-political interests are considered through the prism of countries' membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization and interaction with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Territorial interests are studied in the context of conflict that arose after the collapse of the USSR and associated with the need to legally determine the passage of state borders (in the Caspian Sea; delimitation of the Russian-Azerbaijani border; the formation of independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia; the formation of the unrecognized Republic of Artsakh). Social interests — from the point of view of the process of radicalization of Islam, the problem of “divided peoples”, de-Russification, economic migration of the population. Economic interests have been studied in a multidimensional way, both in the context of the influence of the transit status of countries on the functioning of transport systems in the region, and from the point of view of the distribution of Russian direct investment. In conclusion, it is emphasized that Russia and the countries of the South Caucasus remain part of the post-Soviet territory. The connection of their interests is largely of a conflicting nature, which is manifested both in integration processes oriented towards Russia and disintegration processes supported and actively used by other extra-regional states (Turkey, Iran, EU, USA). This, in turn, creates a geographical property of the region that it did not have during the Soviet period — transitivity. In the context of the reorientation of Russia's foreign policy and foreign economic activities towards Asian countries, it began to be used as the most effective tool to facilitate this process.