The Foreign Service Journal, December 2011

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 59 after implementing some of the re- gion’s greatest market reforms, Georgia registers a per capita gross domestic product of only $2,620. Armenia’s per capita GDP is about $3,000 and Moldova, Europe’s poorest country, has a per capita GDP of slightly more than $1,600. These unresolved conflicts also pose economic costs for Russia. For example, its relationships with Abkhazia and South Ossetia have already complicated Moscow’s long-sought accession to the World Trade Or- ganization. Georgia, a WTO member, can block the ad- mission of any new members and has conditioned approval of Russia on the placement of international ob- servers on the border checkpoints in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But as we went to press in early Novem- ber, Tbilisi and Moscow announced a breakthrough that could lead to Russia’s joining the WTO by year’s end. The Kremlin and the ‘Near Abroad’ Russia remains a critical player in the frozen conflicts, but its in- fluence can vary from spoiler to stabilizer depending on the con- flict zone. Its most troublesome role is in Georgia’s breakaway states. This is seen as reflecting concerns, especially those that existed prior to the 2005 war, about the wave of democratic reforms ushered in by the Rose Revolu- tion, Georgia’s growing ties with NATO and the inaugu- ration of a major oil pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan) that bypassed Russia. After that conflict, Russian President Dmitry Med- vedev referred to Abkhazia and South Ossetia as “zones F OCUS Some experts maintain that the United States and its partners should do more to cultivate contacts with the unrecognized states.