NATO's push into the Caucasus: geopolitical flashpoints and limits for expansion. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Antonopoulos, Paul; Velez, Renato; Cottle, Drew
• Is Part Of: Defense and security analysis. Volume 33:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: 366
• Page End: 379
• Publication Date: 2017-10-02
• Subjects: NATO -- Russia -- Caucasus -- Georgia -- Azerbaijan; Military art and science -- Periodicals; Armed Forces -- Periodicals; Military policy -- Periodicals; National security -- Periodicals; World politics -- Periodicals; 355
• DOI: 10.1080/14751798.2017.1379119
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-1798

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Caucasus has been a major flashpoint of contention between NATO and a resurgent Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The rivalry saw the escalation of hostility in the region during the brief 2008 Russo-Georgian War where a NATO-backed Georgia challenged South Ossetia supported by the Russian military. In 2011, NATO officially recognised Georgia as a potential member, challenging Russia's traditional sphere of influence in the Caucasus. Moscow says the Eastward expansion of NATO into the Baltics and to include Georgia as a member state is a method of containing a resurgent Russia. However, the former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, the Baltics and Georgia, maintain that Russia represents a threat to their sovereignty, as seen by the Russian support of the breakaway unrecognised Republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A hostile rivalry between the Russian-backed Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is reliant upon NATO-member Turkey, intensifies the polarisation in the Caucasus.