faced a series of challenges on its own doorstep, including mass protests in belarus, war in the south caucasusorrespondent steve rosenberg assesses what these dramatic events mean for russia's influence in its own back yard. across russia's former empire, we're seeing seismic change. in belarus, people power is challenging a dictator who's being propped up by moscow. to the south, armenia and azerbaijan have been at war. add to that a revolution in kyrgyzstan and the new pro—europe president in moldova, and the result is one huge headache for the kremlin. vladimir putin still sees much of this part of the world as moscow's zone of influence, but is that influence ebbing away? well, here in the south caucasus, where russia has been the major powerfor 200 years, today, it has competition... from turkey. in the war over nagorno—karabakh, it was turkish support that helped azerbaijan defeat russia's traditional ally in the region, armenia. i think that what happened in karabakh is truly a geopolitical catastrophe for moscow's influence not only in south caucasus, but across what remains of the pos

well, here in the south caucasus, where russia has been the major power for 200 years, today, it hasarabakh, it was turkish support that helped azerbaijan defeat russia's traditional ally in the region, armenia. i think that what happened in karabakh is truly a geopolitical catastrophe for moscow's influence not only in south caucasus, but across what remains of the post—soviet space. moscow's grip on the region is becoming weaker and weaker. we talked to the russian peacekeepers here. they seem wary of turkey's intentions. "traditionally, russia has guaranteed stability here," the peacekeeper says. "while other countries, i mean turkey, try to destabilise the situation, we try to improve things." and for moscow, the geopolitical challenges extend far beyond these hills. in moldova, a pro—western politician, maia sandu, has won the presidency, defeating the pro—russia candidate. moldova is one of the europe's poorest countries, but the kremlin still wants it in russia's orbit. its soviet past and close proximity to romania make it a stage for east—west rivalry. russia has accused ame

well, here in the south caucasus, where russia has been the major power for 200 years, today, it hasort that helped azerbaijan defeat russia's traditional ally in the region, armenia. i think that what happened in karabakh is truly a geopolitical catastrophe for moscow's influence not only in south caucasus, but across what remains of the post—soviet space. moscow's grip on the region is becoming weaker and weaker. we talked to the russian peacekeepers here. they seem wary of turkey's intentions. "traditionally, russia has guaranteed stability here," the peacekeeper says. "while other countries, i mean turkey, try to destabilise the situation, we try to improve things." and for moscow, the geopolitical challenges extend far beyond these hills. in moldova, a pro—western politician, maia sandu, has won the presidency, defeating the pro—russia candidate. moldova is one of the europe's poorest countries, but the kremlin still wants it in russia's orbit. its soviet past and close proximity to romania make it a stage for east—west rivalry. russia has accused america of plotting revolution

faced a series of challenges on its own doorstep, including mass protests in belarus, war in the south caucasushese dramatic events mean for russia's influence in its own back yard. across russia's former empire, we're seeing seismic change. in belarus, people power is challenging a dictator who's being propped up by moscow. to the south, armenia and azerbaijan have been at war. add to that a revolution in kyrgyzstan and the new pro—europe president in moldova, and the result is one huge headache for the kremlin. vladimir putin still sees much of this part of the world as moscow's zone of influence, but is that influence ebbing away? well, here in the south caucasus, where russia has been the major powerfor 200 years, today, it has competition... from turkey. in the war over nagorno—karabakh, it was turkish support that helped azerbaijan defeat russia's traditional ally in the region, armenia. i think that what happened in karabakh is truly a geopolitical catastrophe for moscow's influence not only in south caucasus, but across what remains of the post—soviet space. moscow's grip on the region

not only in south caucasus but across what remains of the soviet space. russia has guaranteed stability here, the peacekeeper says, while other countries, i mean turkey, try to destabilise the situation we tried to improve things. russia wants to be seen as the key player in what he views as its own backyard and having the russian military here helps to do that. but in this form a part of its empire, moscow has a rival now, as turkey seeks to boost its influence in this region. and for moscow, the geopolitical challenges extend far beyond these hills. in moldova, a pro—western politician has won the presidency, defeating the pro—russia candidates. moldova is one of the poorest countries in europe. but the kremlin still wants it in the russia's orbits. it's soviet —— soviet past with close proximity makes it an inevitable stage for east, west rivalry. recently, russia accused america of bucking a revolution here. our objective is to get closer to the eu and hopefully one day to become a member of the european union. but would russia let that happen? would

here in the south caucasus where russia has been the major power, for 200 years, today, it has competitionrom turkey. in the war over nagorno-karabakh , it was turkish support that helped azerbaijan defeat russia's traditional ally, armenia. >> i think what happened in nagorno-karabakh is the catastrophe for moscow's influence because of what remains of the space. moscow's grip on the region is becoming weaker. correspondent: we talked to the russian peacekeepers here. they seem wary of turkey's traditions -- intentions. traditional, russia has maintained stability here. the peacekeeper says that when other countries like turkey try to destabilize the situation, we try to keep them peaceful. having the russia military here helps do that. in this former part of the empire, moscow has a rival now, as turkey seizes to boost its influence in this region. and for moscow, the geopolitical challenges extend far beyond these hills. [applause] in moldova, a pro-western candidate has defeated a russia candidate. moldova is one of the poorest countries in europe. it's close proximity to romania make

fact that it's populated mostly by ethnic armenians has been the source of major tensions in the south caucasus for 4 years now now another major flare up began back in september of this year with intense fighting going on for for at least a month both sides reported more than 2000 military casualties and of course there were many refugees as well now a truce was brokered by russia. by john and i gordon a car a block and they came into effect on the 9th of november and at the moment some territories of nagorno-karabakh are on the control of us there by john and russian peacekeepers are there to make sure that the sides are not shooting against each other there's no provocation there also facilitating the return of the refugees now let's have a civil rights movement more about that zeal in the corner of all of you live. a ceasefire is announced from 12 pm 110th of october for humanitarian purposes. we are committed to a peaceful settlement of the current conflict and the ready to resume the peace process if the armenian side is committed to the truce regime the phase for a political settlement w

supportive of to so hold in between countries between a 2 and russia belarus ukraine and the south caucasus so in that sense i think we shouldn't expect a very happy relationship it having said that i think that the fact that. both biden but also secretary of state designate and tony blinken are known quantities i think in moscow people do not have under realistic expectations of each other as was probably the case at the beginning of the obama administration so i think that the 2 actually the 2 foreign secretaries will do a lot of the work initially. and tony blinken. and that at least it's professional and the mixed message saying it was a sign of the trumpet ministration on the one hand being in bracing president hu even at miring him on the other hand being in adversity on some issues such as north stream such as. nature or in the baltic states and so on that will be become more coherent but it will be a tougher language i doubt that the actions of the american government will be much tougher but we can talk about that in a 2nd as well. there's a lot of policies where there's conflicts

moscow now has troops stations in various roles, from occupier to peacekeeper in all three south caucasuscs of georgia, armenia and azerbaijan tfor the first time since ruled them in the soviet era. azerbaijan has in turn invited military observers from its ally turkey, but it's unclear how many will arriey and whether 'll have a mandate to carry weapons. this too is what victory can look like. it's towns like this one with landscapes reminiscent of hiroshima, that are at the heart of azerbaijan's grievances towards ethnic-armen. when the first karabakh war ended in 1994, armenian forces took control not just of their own enclave, but seven rrounding districts that had previously been populated by azerbaijanis. negotiations over these areas continued for decades afterwards but armenians never allowed the azerbaijanresidents to return. instead ey leveled these cities, picking them apart for raw materials and turned the surrounding lands into a vtwt minefield n themselves and the rest of azerbaijan. aghdam is one of two districts armenian fors have handed back to azerbaijani control so far

you i think we are even more to the south than the last of one because well get across the pond on might be the saudis and religion but graphically speaking caucasus is the 7 point on our territory here we have a lot of journalists and they are willing to ask you a question if you get into the mind let's start right ahead when you. ask oh if i may i would be the moderator here yes of course. so let's ask someone from reaching the floor. that should be a lady i think ladies 1st you know if. someone in the center 123 you please could you please stand up. thank you. very nature chair so my name is. lonnie and then you know. i can only say that we. are living through this. 19. severe blow to our lives health care system has been undermined. ok we were just listening there to our president. but let's go back to every stablished the link with him earlier we were talking about the key point that he raised over the last few hours just continue when you were mentioning about. what are the issues to you have been brought up. yes andrew hour was talking about the vaccine just to remind you the information that we got from lot of our poll is that russia is re