Azerbaijan held grandiose celebrations to mark victory in a brief war to de-occupy territory held for 30 years by Armenia, but a formal peace eludes negotiators and violent incidents still punctuate the region.

Run-off votes were held last weekend in the poll, seen as a test for the ruling party after a year-long standoff between the Georgian Dream and the opposition United National Movement,

Polish artist Wilhelm Kotarbinski is now being exhibited in Kyiv as a part of the new identity of the city that he called home for much of his life.

A deal is described by the ex-Soviet state’s pro-Western president as a “positive precedent” despite a steep increase in price.

Mirziyoyev faced four rivals, but the issue was never in doubt in a contest described by monitors from the OSCE as offering voters few opportunities to see any interaction between the candidates.

Since the 2020 worldwide outbreak, Turkmenistan has remained one of five countries – along with North Korea and three Pacific island states – to report no COVID cases.

Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin have altered their tactics in recent weeks and now focusing the attention of their growing alliance of sorts directly on Ukraine.

Moldova, wedged between Ukraine and Romania, has long been regarded as a watchword for corruption, money laundering, and the trafficking of women to neighbouring countries in Europe as prostitutes.

Since its independence from Soviet rule in 1991, Baku’s relations with Tehran have never been especially warm – its close ethnic and political ties with Turkey, Iran’s most important rival, almost certainly lie behind that.