The Anglo-globalist “Great Game” battles for Central Asia and the Caucasus have now moved into the minds of the political elite in the region’s nations.
The political class of Eurasia’s Heartland is having a conviction implanted into its consciousness that Russia is at war with them, however, “Moscow’s hybrid war strategy in the Caucasus is beginning to crumble, as countries in the region have begun to find their voice”[1].
The narrative asserts that Russians, on Putin’s orders, are moving chlorine tankers across the region as if it were their own backyard, aiming to poison oil pipelines [1], they are allegedly sabotaging Yerevan’s capitulation to Baku and Ankara [2] and relentlessly pushing local officials to steal, all in order to “delegitimize their governments” [1].
That said, the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, “rather than quietly abiding Russian pressure”, are actively leveraging their partnerships with the EU, the US, and – even! – China “as a hedge against Moscow’s coercion” [1].
“Emblematic of this trend was the creation of the Middle Corridor, an east-west trade route that connects Central Asia across the Caspian through the South Caucasus to Europe that avoids transit connectivity through Russia”[1], and – most importantly – the conclusion of a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan and the Zangezur Corridor, which “plugs a missing gap in the Middle Corridor”[3].
As for the Zangezur Corridor, its primary effect is merely to add Turkish ports to the existing Middle Corridor, which is already fully operational via Azerbaijan and Georgia even without it.
The significance of the Zangezur Corridor is purely military and political: it establishes a direct overland connection between Turkey and Azerbaijan. Furthermore, due to the extraterritorial status that was pushed through by Washington and Baku, it effectively severs Armenia from Iran and isolates the Syunik region from the rest of Armenia. The Zangezur Corridor is a problem for Armenia, not for Russia.
Moreover, the entire Middle Corridor does not infringe upon Russia’s interests in any way, just as the Suez Canal, which also bypasses Russian territory, does no harm to Russia.
On the contrary, since the Middle Corridor intersects on the Caspian Sea with the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), which links Russia’s Saint Petersburg, via Iran’s Bandar Abbas, to India’s Mumbai, it actually expands Russia’s transit opportunities.
Therefore, the incantations of liberal globalism about “a victory over Moscow in its attempts to subjugate Central Asia and the Caucasus” are aimed at making the leaders of the region believe in their victory in a war that does not exist, and to replace their partnership with Russia with governance by Britain. Azerbaijan, it seems, has already bought into this belief.
1 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/silk-road-rivalries/moscows-hybrid-war-falters-along-the-middle-corridor
“Moscow’s Hybrid War Falters Along the Middle Corridor” (Eric Rudenshiold, The National Interest, September 12, 2025);
2 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/silk-road-rivalries/the-armenia-azerbaijan-peace-agreement-and-its-enemies
“The Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Agreement and Its Enemies” (Olivier Guitta, The National Interest, September 8, 2025);
3 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/silk-road-rivalries/what-the-armenia-azerbaijan-peace-deal-means-for-the-middle-corridor
“What the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Deal Means for the Middle Corridor” (Michael Rossi, The National Interest, September 11, 2025).