: A mountainous isthmus between the Black and Caspian Seas, defined by the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains and high ethnic and linguistic diversity.
The comprises 11 sovereign nations across three distinct geographic sub-regions: Eastern Europe ( Belarus , Ukraine , Moldova ), the Caucasus ( Armenia , Azerbaijan , Georgia ), and Central Asia ( Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , Uzbekistan ). 1. Geographic Sub-regions and Natural Landscapes : A mountainous isthmus between the Black and
Central Asia — twenty-five years after the breakup of the USSR the Caucasus ( Armenia