The international response to the clashes – the worst since 2016 – has tended to treat both sides equally, while each side insists that the other is to blame.
While the country’s volatile politics went to the back burner during the coronavirus pandemic, the opposition is getting into action again with a new unity slate and a planned weekend protest.
The two presidents spoke following the violent breakup of a protest by Azerbaijani labor migrants in Dagestan. Details of a possible diplomatic resolution of the situation have been scant, however.
Last year, the TV host insulted Vladimir Putin in an obscene rant. Now, he says, Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov is trying to kill him, and Georgian authorities seem to agree.
The labor migrants are trying to return home after losing their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions are rising, and a protest on the border has been violently broken up by Russian police.
This newest escalation of the history wars threatens to drag the Caucasus into the larger post-Soviet struggle over the memory of World War II that has poisoned ties between Russia and many of its neighbors.
Even with coronavirus serving as a belated impetus to push through long-stalled reforms, the five members of the Eurasian Economic Union show limited willingness to help each other.
The move, ahead of commemorations of the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II, comes after similar decisions in the Russian-backed breakaway areas of Eastern Ukraine.