The start of the operation by Russian aircraft in Syria against Islamic State and related terrorist groups makes some experts fear the possibility of an amplification of terrorist activity in the Caucasus. According to some sources, about seven thousand immigrants from Russia and the CIS countries are fighting on the side of the militants of Islamic State. Several conflicts that appeared before the collapse of the Soviet Union also contribute to the tension.
As suggested by the The Deputy Chairman of the Russian National Commission for UNESCO, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation and Vice-President of the INF, Alexander Dzasokhov, development of the Caucasus as a unified geopolitical and economic region is, of course, impossible without the restoration of dialogue, even in such difficult conditions between these same Caucasus states: "the number of conflicts in the Caucasus is bigger than the number of peaks, but we need to move forward in order to stimulate the inter-state contacts. Also, I want to emphasize that if one country in the Caucasus makes quite unnatural and ahistorical attempts to jump out of the Caucasian space and become a part of NATO, from a legal point of view, I mean in this case Tbilisi and Georgia, we cannot prohibit someone from the Caucasian states to do so, to say that they cannot enter, because it will cause great damage to the interests of the Caucasian nations, including Russia, as the largest country in the Caucasus. However, this trend continues, sometimes I even think that it is a provocation. I think that here we can find some common ground to somehow avoid the aggravating tensions, though they are still trying to cover up their intentions of joining NATO due to an alleged threat from Russia.’’
Dzasokhov offers to look on the existing realities, "There are four Caucasian states, there are two new states, partially recognized, and of course, our work in the future lies in search of stability in the Caucasus, we must also take into account this reality. I want to remind you that in the 1990s several attempts were made to establish a pan-Caucasian project of stability. In 1999, President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev launched a project called the pact of security and cooperation of the South Caucasian states. Then, according to the author of the project, the three South Caucasus states, then Russia and Turkey, and then the United States and the EU should participate in realization of the project. I'm not saying that this is the main reason, but one of the reasons that it has not received development lies in the fact that we were outside of those who were invited for the implementation of the project. Then there was the famous project of President Dumirel [Turkish President], which was also aimed at creating some kind of a basic document, it was named as a stability pact for the Caucasus.Then the Armenian initiative followed, then there was the European one. This issue is still on the agenda"
According to Dzasokhov, today it is necessary to take further steps, taking into account the instructive lessons of the recent past, to create the possibility of regular contacts in the search for solutions to frozen conflicts.
