The new fighting was an early test for the Russian peacekeeping mission as it tries to manage a new, ambiguous de facto border that passes through populated areas.
Moscow at first responded to the war cautiously, but was in the end forced to intervene decisively. Was this a geopolitical coup or was Moscow’s hand forced?
Even as Georgia’s Armenians and Azerbaijanis have strong feelings about the war next door, they are trying to maintain peaceful ties in the country they share.
The messaging from Moscow has been pro-Armenia but critical of its government. And some Armenians are questioning their leaders’ flirtation, as mild as it’s been, with the West.