The paper scrutinizes the dramatic processes of military-pipeline diplomacy in relation to the transportation of Caspian oil in the post-Soviet period. The study focuses on military-diplomatic efforts of the three rebel territories of the post-Soviet Caucasus: Abkhazia, Chechnya, and South Ossetia in relation to the Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiisk, and Baku-Ceyhan pipeline projects, respectively. A characteristic feature of these efforts was that public power escalation took place not in the form of hostilities, but in the form of post-conflict ultimatums of the rebel regions with regard to Georgia, Russia, and international oil companies. The author explores the global context of these events and concludes that the separatist projects were military-diplomatic imitations for entering international public policy. The analysis shows that energy wars and related diplomatic imitations are becoming important components of the foreign policy of unrecognized states and separatist entities. The author takes a step towards overcoming the generally accepted and harmful interpretations regarding the nature and scope of the post-Soviet Caspian policy. The article identifies and describes the phenomenon of local military-power diplomacy in relation to the transportation of Caspian oil in the post-Soviet period. To study this topic, the analytical tools of «critical geopolitics» are used in the work, focusing on the local scale of the Caspian-Caucasian events and the discursive practices of regional ruling groups.
Caspian oil; pipelines; rebellious regions of the Caucasus; military threats; diplomatic imitations.