Armenia In an interview with Euronews , Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenia could formally apply to join the EU in 2027 or 2028. He said that Armenia is trying to create an alternative for its people, working towards deepening democracy and is aiming to finalise the visa liberalisation process with the EU in 2029. According to the Investigative Committee chair Artur Poghosyan, the probe so far indicates that the Azerbaijani soldier who illegally crossed into Armenia’s Shaki village in early October and injured three people had no intention of killing anyone. The Investigative Committee conducted simultaneous searches at 65 locations as part of an ongoing criminal investigation. According to media reports, these addresses include the homes and properties of opposition Strong Armenia leaders Samvel Karapetyan and Narek Karapetyan. Azerbaijan The trial of Azerbaijani Popular Front Party chair Ali Karimli and party presidium member Mammad Ibrahim started at the Baku Court of Grave Crimes on Tuesday. He is charged with attempting to seize power by force, an offence punishable by up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment. Karimli, one of the most prominent opposition figures in the country, has objected to the closed-door proceedings, saying that he would not wish to attend future hearings if the trial continued to be held behind closed doors. Police cordoned off roads leading to the Baku Court of Grave Crimes from early morning ahead of the hearing. APFP supporters were prevented from gathering outside the courthouse. Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze was questioned about Georgia’s halted EU integration process, recently adopted laws, and the potential banning of opposition parties at an EU enlargement summit organised by Euronews . Kobakhidze described the European Commission’s report on Georgia’s EU accession as politicised, and challenged European Commission members to hold a public debate on the topic Georgian Dream has proposed amendments to the Election Code that would change how election results are summarised and challenged. Nona Kurdovanidze, a lawyer and former chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), said the changes would ‘effectively abolish’ the possibility of appealing election results. Opposition alliance member parties and Georgia First held a meeting-conference with representatives of diplomatic missions, embassies, and international organisations accredited in Georgia. Discussions focused on ongoing proceedings at the Constitutional Court seeking to ban opposition parties and the prospects of a change of government through fair elections. The United National Movement (UNM) left the opposition alliance formed by nine parties in March. The party’s leadership cites the criticism and attacks that the UNM has faced from other members of the alliance for their decision. Abkhazia Over the past five years, 5,600 people have been born in Abkhazia, while more than 7,000 have died, Khatuna Shatipa, head of the national economy department at the Centre for Socio-Economic Research, said on Radio Sputnik. According to her, specialists describe these figures as a demographic crisis. Abkhazia received 1.7 million tourists in the first nine months of 2026. The republic welcomed 1.8 million visitors in the whole of last year, Tourism Minister Astamur Logua said at a meeting between President Badra Gunba and members of the Cabinet. South Ossetia South Ossetian President Marat Kambolov has signed a series of decrees appointing officials to government positions. The Prosecutor General’s Office of South Ossetia has uncovered the embezzlement of a particularly large sum of public funds during the reconstruction of School No 2 in Tskhinvali (Tskhinval). Criminal cases have been opened on charges of fraud and abuse of official powers against the officials responsible. The South Ossetian Foundation for the Support of Wounded People has delivered humanitarian aid to the frontline area of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine. The shipment included essential supplies, water, apples, food and other items. South Ossetian schoolchildren have been made to collect rosehips for Russian soldiers. They gathered around 400 kilograms of rosehips over three days, and the campaign is ongoing. The harvest will be sent to the frontzone and hospitals. The campaign was launched on the initiative of South Ossetian President Marat Kambolov. South Ossetian Foreign Minister Akhsar Dzhioev met with Nicaragua’s ambassador to Russia and South Ossetia, Alba Torres Mejia. The two sides discussed the development of bilateral relations, describing them as friendly and based on a high level of trust, as well as the importance of further strengthening cooperation, South Ossetia’s Foreign Ministry reported. The North Caucasus A warehouse belonging to the OZON marketplace is on fire in Adygeisk following a Ukrainian drone attack. Drone debris also damaged a gas pipeline in the hamlet of Petrov and fell near the aul (village) of Takhtamukai. According to local authorities, there were no casualties. Gezel Umalatova, a disabled resident of Makhachkala, has complained about police brutality, claiming officers beat her after she refused to go to the police station. The 39-year-old says because of her disability she refused to go for questioning, following an incident in which a wheelchair in her courtyard was set on fire. Experts documented her injuries, but a criminal case was later opened against her on charges of slander and threatening a police officer, human rights group Komanda Protiv Pytok (Team Against Torture) reported. Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsiya) has granted Royal Jordanian Airlines permission to operate regular flights from Amman to Makhachkala. The planes will fly every Wednesday, and the first flight is expected today. At a criminal law conference held at Moscow State University, Professor Duriya Ziyadova proposed easing penalties for blood feuds — when relatives of a murder victim take revenge on the perpetrator. She argued that such acts in the North Caucasus act as a deterrent, helping to keep crime rates low. During a raid in the Daghestani village of Untsukul, law enforcement officers and energy workers discovered an illegal cryptocurrency mining farm with seven devices. Since the beginning of the year, 52 illegal mining farms have been discovered in the region, with 958 devices seized. Thirty-nine administrative fines were issued to seven participants in a wedding motorcade in Kabarda–Balkaria who committed a series of traffic violations. They drove into oncoming traffic and deliberately collided with one another. Some of them did not have driving licences. Some people in North Ossetia are celebrating Iliana Iotova’s victory in Bulgaria’s presidential election, as her husband Andrei Iotov, was born in Vladikavkaz and is half Ossetian. For ease of reading, we choose not to use qualifiers such as ‘de facto’, ‘unrecognised’, or ‘partially recognised’ when discussing institutions or political positions within Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, and South Ossetia. This does not imply a position on their status.