Conflicts in the Caucasus began as a result of the weakening of the institutions of the Soviet Union.Since then there have been some major transformations. Initially, there were ‘triangular conflicts' withthe centre (Moscow) on the one side and two competing national projects on the other side (a UnionRepublic and a minority group with an autonomous status within this republic). After the collapse of the Soviet Union, these conflicts evolved into bilateral ones between two popular-nationalistmovements with competing territorial claims: newly independent nation states, on the one hand, andminority groups with autonomous status, on the other.