In the South Caucasus and Brussels alike, the machinery of quiet diplomacy has been turning: a French national held in Azerbaijan on espionage charges has been pardoned, and the EU has lifted sanctions on a Russian billionaire in what appears to be no coincidence at all. These two acts — one a gesture of clemency, the other a revision of economic punishment — arrived in close succession, suggesting that behind the formal announcements lay negotiations conducted far from public view. The episode reminds us that the lines separating prisoner exchanges, sanctions policy, and geopolitical alignmen
Azerbaijan pardons French citizen as EU lifts sanctions on Russian oligarch
A French national was detained in Azerbaijan on espionage charges before being pardoned.