⭐️ This week's special
Biden and Putin break the ice in Geneva.
Agnieszka Widlaszewska
The presidents of Russia and the United States met for talks last week, at a time when the relations between the two countries are said to be “at rock bottom”. It was their first meeting since Joe Biden was elected US President and it concluded Biden’s first foreign trip, which also included the G7, NATO and EU-US summits. Topics covered included strategic stability, cyber security, regional conflicts (including in the Donbas), trade and cooperation in the Arctic. Issues such as human rights, Russia’s recent crackdown on domestic opposition and the imprisonment of Alexei Navalny were also discussed, albeit not in depth. Both leaders expressed their satisfaction with the constructive nature of the talks - a short common statement released following the meeting stressed the need to avoid a nuclear war at all cost and announced the launch of an integrated bilateral Strategic Stability Dialogue. In addition, the presidents have agreed to return their respective ambassadors to their posts - the Russian ambassador was recalled to Moscow “for consultations” in March, after the US accused Russia of meddling in the 2020 presidential election, with the US ambassador following suit in April.
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Albanian parliament impeaches president Ilir Meta. On 16 June, the Albanian parliament voted 104-7 to discharge President Ilir Meta and remove him from office. It is the first time such an impeachment has occurred since the country’s democratic transition. Meta is accused of having violated the constitution, in particular when he took sides during the parliamentary elections of last April. Now, Albania’s Constitutional Court has three months to deliberate and decide the fate of Meta, who would have ended his mandate in July 2022. During the last national election, Meta himself stated that he would have removed himself from office if Edi Rama’s Socialist Party would win again, but eventually refused to follow through. These events are the culmination of years of periodic clashes between Albania’s President and PM.
Vucic and Kurti meet for the first time, disagreement ensues. Serbian President Alexander Vucic met for the first time with his newly-elected counterpart from Kosovo, Prime Minister Albin Kurti, on 15 June in Brussels. The talks, mediated by top EU diplomat Josep Borrell, were, as Serbia-Kosovo talks tend to be, inconclusive, as both sides blamed the other for lacking the will to cooperate and presenting unacceptable terms. Vucic claimed that Kurti came to the meeting with the intention “not to agree” and immediately demanded the full recognition of Kosovo, something the Serb leader said he would “never” give. Meanwhile, Kurti claims to have put forward a set of concrete proposals to normalise relations with Serbia, including the reciprocal creation of a National Council for minorities, a joint non-aggression agreement, and the creation of a Western Balkans-wide free trade area.
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Early counting shows victory for Pashinyan in tense post-war Armenian elections. Though the result was far from certain going into the 20 June parliamentary vote, the early results of Armenia’s snap elections point towards an overwhelming victory for incumbent prime minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party. As of 01:00am Yerevan time and with 165,643 votes counted, Civil Contract was in the lead with 59% of the vote, with former president Robert Kocharyan’s Armenia Alliance a distant second place at 18%, and no other party breaking double digits. Many analysts and opinion polls expected Kocharyan to mount a serious challenge to Pashinyan, under whom military defeat to Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh led to the protracted domestic political crisis that culminated in these snap elections. In a campaign marked by its deep pessimism, hatred of the previous regimes, including Kocharyan’s, has likely proved to be stronger than blame on Pashinyan for losing the war. Late on election night, Kocharyan announced his refusal to accept the result, with some fearing more political unrest in Armenia on the horizon.
Turkey and Azerbaijan sign formal alliance in “Shusha Declaration”. On 15 June, Turkish president Recep Tayyip visited the newly-captured city of Shusha (Armenian: Shushi) in Nagorno-Karabakh upon the invitation of his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev. There, the two leaders signed an official declaration of alliance, known as the “Shusha Declaration”, formalising the close political and cultural relationship between their countries. The document, signed on the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Treaty of Kars, which set the modern borders between Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, commits both countries to strengthening military, political, and economic ties- the latter of which include the opening of the so-called “Zangezur corridor” to connect the two countries through Armenia’s Syunik province. Shusha, often regarded as the “cultural capital” of Azerbaijan, was captured from Armenia at the end of last year’s war over Nagorno-Karabakh.
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