The two ex-Soviet nations regularly exchange fire along their shared border and across Karabakh's volatile frontline.
The fillip it brings to Azerbaijan, and to a lesser extent to Georgia, will help to shore up the shaky finances of two ex-Soviet countries.
The Davit Gareji monastery lies on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia, but the two ex-Soviet countries both claim it lies within their territory.
The neighbourhood comprises six ex-Soviet countries plus the southern Mediterranean.
Leaders of the five ex-Soviet nations are united in their public commitment to divide the water equitably.
Lech Kaczynski, Poland's president, hoped last year to forge an alliance with four ex-Soviet states to help Poland diversify its energy sources away from Russia.
But this winter is proving even more worrying for Georgia, the westernmost (politically and geographically) of the three ex-Soviet republics of the Caucasus.
Lukashenko, 60, has let it be known he would like to attend a summit between EU countries and six ex-Soviet states planned for Riga in May, EU sources say.
The wave of immigration from Russia in the past two decades means the discrepancy between these two standards has become glaring.There are now several hundred thousand ex-Soviet Israelis who were Jewish enough to get in, but are not Jewish enough for the rabbis.
IF THERE is one ex-Soviet zone where peace looks both feasible and of great benefit to almost all interested parties, including the United States and Russia, it is the thorny old dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, a hunk of mountain that is legally Azerbaijan's but controlled by Armenia.
By contrast, Spain and Italy have miniature carriers with around a dozen planes, while China has only one ex-Soviet model, preferring to put its defence budget into missile technology.
