35

This article aims to draw attention to conflicts close to the European Union which are not widely known, those linked to states not recognised in the former USSR. Several state entities that have emerged since the collapse of the USSR have institutions and armies but lack international recognition. The related conflicts are referred to as “frozen conflicts” because the unrecognised State has obtained a military victory but has failed to get recognised by the “international community”, leading to a frozen situation. The “thaw” can be very brutal however. The fact that France and the European Union do not show much interest in these cases does not help to stabilize the situation, which has changed significantly since 2014 with the crisis in Ukraine and the Four Day War in Nagorno-Karabakh in April 2016.