Russia treated the post-Soviet territory, including the Southern Caucasus, as its sphere of influence. In the first years after the collapse of the USSR, this position was accepted by the United States. Moscow defined the South Caucasus as a region of strategic importance for its interests, both for geopolitical and economic reasons. In the mid-1990s, the United States radically changed its policy towards the countries of the region. In the American strategy, oil and gas from the Caspian Sea was to constitute an alternative source of raw materials to those from the Persian Gulf. The construction of pipelines from Azerbaijan through Georgia to Turkey, bypassing the territory of the Russian Federation, deprived Moscow of a monopoly for the transit of raw materials from the Caspian Sea to European consumers. The region, which Russia defined as a zone of its strategic interests, became at the same time a zone of American interests. In the struggle for influence in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, ethnic and political antagonisms in the Caucasus were used. The intensity of conflicts was governed by the current political, military and economic needs of rival superpowers.
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