ABSTRACT
The armed conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh and eastern Ukraine are the only two currently active on the Eurasian continent. Russia has a prominent role in both theatres. In the Armenian–Azerbaijani dispute, its positions are virtually identical to the West’s, maintaining a rhetorical commitment to similar peacemaking and conflict-resolution agendas. Stalemate continued in both conflicts in 2018, with no substantial changes to the parties’ military positions, and no movements in the lines dividing the contested territories from the countries (re)claiming them. Daily ceasefire violations continued to have direct humanitarian and economic effects on the civilian population, particularly in eastern Ukraine, from where more than a million people have been displaced since 2014. The former in particular might destabilise immediate neighbours as well as the larger Balkan region, and the possibility of renewed violence in 2019 should not be ruled out.
