Eurasianism and the Concept of Central Caucaso-Asia

Rethinking Central Eurasia 61
of Russia’s and Iran’s interests in the region coincide considerably, 216
especially with respect to the Caspian’s energy resources, among other
things. On top of that, Russian experts think Russia is waging an energy war
against several of the former Soviet republics, Georgia and Azerbaijan being
cases in point. 217
When talking about the Russian policy in the Central Caucasus, 218 it is
impossible to ignore the contemporary Eurasianist view of an Eurasianiststyle
organization of the entire Caucasus 219 and Russia’s strategic partners in
the region. The so-called New Geopolitical Order in the Caucasus, for
example, rejects formations such as “nation-states” and proposes the creation
of a Caucasian Federation that unites both the Russian Northern Caucasus
and Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. 220 With such a move, Abkhazia
would have to be directly tied to Russia, Ossetia would have to be
incorporated, 221 and Moscow would have to establish direct relations with
Nagorno-Karabakh in order to give it the so-called status of a point of
balance in the entire Caucasian geopolitical system. 222 Armenia, “Russia’s
traditional and reliable ally in the Caucasus,” and Iran are considered
Russia’s strategic partners in implementing this model of the Eurasianiststyle
organization in the Caucasus. 223
216
For example, Svante E. Cornell, “Iran and the Caucasus : The Triumph of
Pragmatism over Ideology,” Global Dialogue, Vol. 2, No. 3 (2001), pp. 85-88; Robert O.
Freedman, “Russia and Iran: A Tactical Alliance,” SAIS Review of International Affairs,
Vol. XVII, No. 2 (1997), pp. 93-109.
217
S.B. Druzhilovskiy, “K voprosu ob alternativnoy strategii Rossiyskoy Federatsii v
sfere energeticheskoi politiki” [On the Question of the Russian Federation’s
Alternative Strategy in Energy Policy], in N.P. Shmelev, V.A. Guseynov, and A.A.
Yaz’kova, eds., Sredizemnomor’e—Chernomor’e—Kaspiy: mezhdu Bol’shoy Evropoy i
Bol’shoy Blizhnim Vostokom [The Mediterranean—Black Sea—Caspian: Between
Greater Europe and the Greater Middle East] (Moscow: Izdatel’skiy dom “Granitsa,”
2006), p. 80.
218
For example, Alla Yaz’kova, “Russia and Independent Caucasian States,” The
Caucasus & Globalization, Vol. 3, Iss. 1 (2009), pp. 22-29.
219
Farkhad Aliev, “The Caucasus Through the Eurasian Prism,” Central Asia and the
Caucasus, No. 1 (31) (2005), pp. 91-99.
220
Dugin, Osnovy geopolitiki, pp. 351-352.
221 Ibid., p. 351.
222 Ibid., p. 353.
223 Ibid., p. 352.