Weekly Developments

Caucasus developments — 6 September 2026

Published 2026-09-06Reporting window 2026-08-31 → 2026-09-061 development · 10 watch items reviewed

Aliyev and Pashinyan met on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek on 31 August and published a joint press statement — the first time the two governments have jointly set out what normalisation has actually delivered rather than what it is supposed to deliver. The list is commercial: Azerbaijani petroleum products moving into Armenia, third-country grain transiting Azerbaijan to Armenia, trade relations being established, the delimitation commissions continuing, further practical steps on the TRIPP route. What is absent is as legible as what is present. The peace agreement is described as initialled, with no signature, no date, and no mention of the constitutional precondition that has blocked it since 2024. Yerevan's domestic prosecutions continued: a third judge withdrew from the case against the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

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