With the expected signing of a deal on Nagorno-Karabakh derailed by last month's carnage in the Armenian parliament, the Chechen crisis is even more certain to set the agenda for the OSCE summit next week.
Russia's forceful bid to 'resolve' the Chechen problem seemed certain to attract criticism from the very start of the military operation in Chechnya. The Kremlin's ability to ignore those critics may not be as strong as the army's.
Armenia's appeal courts are to rule on the much-publicised case of a local journalist accused of libeling the interior minister.
Russian officials label the humanitarian crisis in Chechnya as a 'well directed play' as thousands of Chechen refugees into Ingushetia - and back - now the border crossing is finally reopened.
How deep was the crisis between President Robert Kocharian and the military? Thousands of troops were pointedly still patrolling the city last week.
The Russian authorities use the kidnap threat to discourage reporters from attempting to travel to Chechnya, and those who dare to try are being stopped at the border. The result is a news blackout that benefits only the Kremlin.
An independent TV station in Azerbaijan remains shut down and its staff on hunger strike a month after armed police stormed the studios after the showing of a programme critical of President Heydar Aliev.
The only real opposition to President Eduard Shevardnadze's Citizens Union of Georgia after last month's vote was Aslan Abashidze's Georgian Revival Party. Next year the two will face off again in the presidential poll.
On the surface at least, constitutional order has been preserved in Armenia in the wake of the October 27 attack on the Yerevan parliament - but tensions with the military continue.
Chechen refugees are trapped in limbo, unable to return to Grozny or leave the country while Russia and Ingushetia prevaricate on reopening the border.
