ABSTRACT
In the aftermath of the break-up of the USSR, the Caucasus and the Central Asian regions were hit by a wave of ethnic conflicts. The Caucasus region is bounded by the Black Sea and Azov Seas to the west and the Caspian Sea to the east; it shares international borders with Turkey and Iran to the south and is roughly delimited by a horizontal line drawn between the Don and Volga rivers to the north. The Caucasus has asymmetrical political structures, which include three independent states-Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan-inside which there exist three autonomous entities claiming de facto independence: Nagornyi Karabakh, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. In addition, there are seven autonomous republics that are all parts of the Russian Federation, one of which has also claimed independence: Chechnya. Central Asia is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Iran to the south, Russia to the north and the People’s Republic of China to the east. The disintegration of the USSR in December 1991 led to the establishment of five independent states in Central Asia: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
