This week on Hold Your Fire!, Rob and Naz question the efficacy of international sanctions, as the European Union wields this overused tool against Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. They are then joined by Olesya Vartanyan, Crisis Group’s senior South Caucasus analyst, for a very personal conversation about the toll the fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh has taken on her friends on both sides as well as an analysis of the role played by Turkey, Russia, and other external actors in the conflict. 

Background reading by Crisis Group on the war in Nagorno-Karabakh:

De-escalating the New Nagorno-Karabakh War - statement on the most recent escalation

Digging out of Deadlock in Nagorno-Karabakh - 2019 report mentioned by Olesya in the interview

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Gathering War Clouds - 2017 report mentioned by Olesya in the interview

The Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict: A Visual Explainer

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