🇺🇦🇷🇺Ukraine vs Russia

Caucasus Visits: How Kyiv Challenged Moscow’s Grip

Kyiv used the European Political Community summit in Yerevan to deepen ties with Armenia and reopen dialogue with Georgia as Moscow’s influence wanes.

Kyiv Post

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2026年5月5日

3 min read

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President Volodymyr Zelensky’s first visit to Armenia on Sunday underscored Kyiv’s growing effort to expand its diplomatic reach in the South Caucasus, a region where Russia’s influence is weakening but remains deeply contested.

Arriving in Yerevan for the eighth European Political Community summit, Zelensky made a symbolically important trip as Armenia continues to move closer to Europe after years of frustration with Moscow.

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For Armenia, hosting Zelensky sent a clear signal that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government is willing to deepen ties with Ukraine and Europe despite the risk of angering Russia. Armenia remains formally tied to the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, but its relations with Moscow have deteriorated sharply in recent years.

Thawing tensions with Georgia

Zelensky also used the Yerevan summit to reopen high-level dialogue with Georgia, meeting Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze after years of strained relations between Kyiv and Tbilisi.

Initiated by Ukraine, the meeting marked the first high-level contact between the two nations since 2021.

Accompanied by their foreign ministers, Zelensky and Kobakhidze discussed bilateral relations, European integration, trade, and economic cooperation. The dialogue signaled a cautious but significant effort to realign their shared European aspirations despite recent political friction.

After the meeting, Zelensky wrote on X: “There are indeed unresolved issues between our states. It is important to have dialogue at all levels. Ukraine has always respected and continues to respect Georgia, its sovereignty, and its people. We will continue our cooperation going forward.”

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Azerbaijan before Armenia

Zelensky’s stop in Armenia followed a surprise visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, on April 25.

In Baku, Zelensky and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed six bilateral documents, including agreements on joint military production and defense technology, with a focus on counter-drone systems.

While the specific details of the six documents signed in Baku were only cautiously unveiled, their existence signaled the first open declaration of strategic intent to align more closely with Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.

A Shifting Regional Order

The symbolism of these diplomatic maneuvers, coming deep into the fifth year of Russia’s war against Ukraine, is difficult to overstate. When the full-scale invasion began in 2022, the South Caucasus was widely regarded as Moscow’s “private backyard” – a region where the Kremlin’s word was final.

Today, that hegemony is fraying. By hosting Zelensky in Yerevan and signing defense agreements in Baku, countries in the region are signaling that they no longer fear Russian retaliation as they once did. Moscow’s “peacekeepers” and security guarantees have been exposed as hollow.

The image of the Ukrainian president meeting Georgian and Armenian leaders in Yerevan – still home to a Russian military base – serves as a stark reminder to Vladimir Putin that his war to rebuild an empire has instead accelerated its collapse, one former Soviet republic at a time.