Europa está ganando la partida geopolítica a Rusia en el Cáucaso sur, una región que Moscú considera parte de su patio trasero. La presidenta de la Comisión Europea, la alemana Úrsula Von der Leyen, viaja la próxima semana a Armenia y Azerbaiyán y lo hace acompañada de la comisaria de Ampliación, Marta Kos, en una clara señal a países que querrían verse en el futuro siendo miembros de la Unión Europea, un escenario que aterroriza al Kremlin.

El juego de cartas en la región lleva décadas. A la caída de la Unión Soviética en 1991 la independencia de aquellas antiguas repúblicas soviéticas no fue suficiente para evitar que Moscú consolidara su posición como actor dominante en la región. Ese papel se fue degradando desde las guerras en Chechenia y, sobre todo, cuando los países del Cáucaso vieron que Moscú podría llegar a usar la fuerza para arrebatarles (como a Georgia) trozos de su territorio.

El ataque del 24 de febrero de 2022 a Ucrania parece ser la gota que colmó el vaso y que dio más influencia a los dirigentes proeuropeos o que, al menos, quieren acercarse a Europa para depender menos del Kremlin. Eso ha servido para que la Unión Europea haya ido incrementando su presencia diplomática y económica en la región, que hasta hace pocos años se limitaba a ciertos planes de cooperación al desarrollo.

La ampliación de la Unión Europea al centro y el este del continente con la entrada en 2004 de 10 países en el bloque hizo que los intereses de esos países se tuvieran en cuenta y se mirara más hacia el este. Ahí nació la Política Europea de Vecindad y la Asociación Oriental, marcos donde fueron ampliándose las relaciones con esos países.

La invasión rusa de Ucrania cambió el escenario por la ruptura con la Unión Europea y porque Europa ha buscado disminuir todo lo posible su dependencia de la energía rusa, diversificando corredores de gasoductos (esencial en eso Azerbaiyán) y mejorando sus relaciones con países que iban moviéndose hacia sistemas democráticos y que miraban más hacia Europa.

El conflicto de 2023 entre Armenia y Azerbaiyán por la región de Nagorno Karabaj aceleró los cambios políticos en la derrotada Armenia y mostró que Rusia no cumplía con su papel de fuerza de interposición. Tras depender durante décadas de la seguridad rusa mientras su tradicional enemiga Azerbaiyán se apoyaba en Turquía, Armenia giró cuando sintió la traición de Moscú. La reciente victoria electoral en Armenia, contra las maniobras del Kremlin, de un gobierno pro europeo liderado por Nikol Pasyihan, abre ahora la puerta a acelerar el acercamiento del país a la Unión Europea.

Cuando Rusia impuso medidas restrictivas comerciales a Armenia, Europa respondió anunciando paquetes de ayuda económica y de apoyo al sector privado. Mientras, los europeos buscan diversificar sus rutas comerciales y de energía, poniendo buena parte de la plata para infraestructuras energéticas que conecten la región desde Georgia hasta Turquía. Europa ve en Armenia un nudo de transportes en la región. Por eso también consiguió que, tras décadas cerrada, Turquía aceptara abrir su frontera con Armenia.

Los europeos se movieron rápido en las últimas ocasiones en que el Kremlin generó problemas económicos a Armenia. Cuando Moscú prohibió la venta de flores armenias en Rusia, paralizando un sector económico muy lucrativo para Erevan, la Comisión Europea se movió rápido para encontrar compradores alternativos en Europa.

El viaje de Von der Leyen a la región (el 1 de julio estará en Bakú y el 2 y 3 de julio en Ereván), simboliza ese acercamiento. Que con ella viaje Marta Kos, comisaria europea de Ampliación, es una señal tanto a los gobiernos de la región como al Kremlin. El mensaje que lleva la dirigente europea es que seguirá usando sus herramientas diplomáticas y económicas para anclar la región en Europa y alejarla del control de Moscú.

La relación europea con Azerbaiyán es más compleja por el carácter autoritario de su gobierno, pero Bruselas la mantiene engrasada por el papel de los azerís como suministradores de gas y porque su actitud es clave para mantener la estabilidad de la región.

A plane carrying participants in a skydiving activity crashed shortly after takeoff in northeastern France on Sunday, killing all 11 people aboard, authorities said.

The Meurthe-et-Moselle Prefecture said on X that the aircraft crashed after departing from Nancy-Essey Airport, prompting officials to activate the department’s operational command center.

The Associated Press reported the victims included five parachuting instructors, five novice jumpers preparing for tandem skydives and the pilot.

MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS

Prefect Yves Séguy told reporters the aircraft suffered a malfunction and «fell almost vertically,» narrowly missing a populated area.

«Had it occurred just a few dozen meters away, the accident could have caused collateral casualties,» Séguy said.

Flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed the single-engine Pilatus PC-6 banked left shortly after takeoff before crashing less than a minute later near residential homes, about 300 yards from the runway.

MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said he traveled to the crash site with Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot, where they met with local officials and emergency responders.

Nunez wrote on X that he felt «immense emotion» while meeting with local officials and praised the coordinated response of firefighters, emergency personnel, police, gendarmerie and civil security teams.

He said a medico-psychological emergency unit was activated shortly after the crash to support victims’ loved ones and those who witnessed the tragedy. Some family members waiting at the airport witnessed the crash, according to officials.

MISSOURI SKYDIVING PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED ALL 12 ABOARD IS A ‘DEVASTATING LOSS,’ COMPANY SAYS

Nunez added that the investigation, directed by the Paris prosecutor’s office and assigned to the Air Transport Gendarmerie’s investigative unit, will determine the cause of the crash.

Tabarot described the incident as a «terrible tragedy» and extended his condolences to the victims’ families before traveling to the scene alongside Nunez.

In a later post on X, Tabarot said investigators from France’s Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses had visited the crash site and opened an investigation to determine the precise circumstances of the accident. He also described the crash as France’s deadliest aviation accident involving a skydiving flight in about 30 years.

The parachutists were preparing for tandem jumps, in which novice participants are harnessed to experienced instructors for the descent.

French broadcaster BFM-TV spoke with a local resident who said he heard what sounded like the aircraft’s engine stopping before a loud impact. When he reached the crash site, he said there were no signs of life.

Sunday’s tragedy came just weeks after another deadly skydiving plane crash in the U.S. that killed 12 people about 65 miles outside Kansas City, Missouri.

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In that crash, the aircraft was carrying 11 skydivers and a pilot. Many of the passengers were preparing for tandem jumps and were inexperienced first-time skydivers, officials said. Some family members waiting at the airport also witnessed the crash.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump on Sunday called Washington, D.C., council member Janeese Lewis George a «communist» and vowed to block policies he said would undermine public safety and reverse his administration’s efforts to reduce crime in the nation’s capital.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said he plans to meet with Lewis George and argued Washington has become safer under his administration. He also pledged to oppose any agenda he said would weaken immigration enforcement, policing or the city’s criminal justice system.

«Janeese Lewis George, the Communist who is almost certainly going to be elected Mayor of Washington, D.C., has stated that she wants to empty the prisons, make D.C. a Sanctuary City, oppose ICE, welcome Criminal Illegal Aliens back into our beloved Capital, resist Anti-Crime Crackdowns, Defund the Police, continue and expand Cashless Bail, and so many other Capital destroying ‘things,’» the president wrote on Truth Social.

SOCIALIST POISED TO LEAD DC AFTER DEM PRIMARY VICTORY, SETTING STAGE FOR CLASHES WITH TRUMP

«In the end, it will never work out, nor will I let it even have a chance because I have worked too hard to make Washington, D.C., the Envy of the World, with almost No Crime, and a Beautification process that has been second to none,» Trump continued. «I will meet with Janeese Lewis George, but must forewarn everyone that Washington, D.C., is again a Safe and Prestigious Community.

«Many people, including myself, have worked long and hard to get it there, and we will not let it be destroyed by a Communist adherent who has no intention to, MAKE WASHINGTON GREAT AGAIN!» he added.

Lewis George, a self-described Democratic socialist and member of the District of Columbia Council, defeated Kenyan McDuffie and five other candidates in the Democratic mayoral primary earlier this month, positioning her to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser in a city where Democrats overwhelmingly dominate general elections.

SOCIALIST POISED TO LEAD DC AFTER DEM PRIMARY VICTORY, SETTING STAGE FOR CLASHES WITH TRUMP

Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) is seen during a city council meeting in Washington, DC on February 7, 2023 (Craig Hudson for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Her primary victory sets the stage for a likely clash with Trump, who has made reducing crime in Washington and reshaping the nation’s capital a central focus of his second term. The president has maintained a National Guard presence in the city and has repeatedly threatened to end the District’s home rule if he believes local leaders fail to keep crime under control.

Lewis George has sharply criticized Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and expanded federal law enforcement presence in Washington. Following the president’s decision to deploy the Guard last year, she called the move «a direct attack» on the city’s residents and accused Trump of weaponizing the Home Rule Act.

During the mayoral campaign, Lewis George argued that «federal troops» and «masked ICE agents» posed a greater threat to young Washington residents than juvenile crime and opposed relying on curfews and federal enforcement, instead advocating expanded youth programs and other community investments.

President Donald Trump pumps his fist after speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s 2026 Policy Conference at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, on June 26, 2026. (Kent NISHIMURA / AFP via Getty Images)

SOCIALIST POISED TO LEAD DC AFTER DEM PRIMARY VICTORY, SETTING STAGE FOR CLASHES WITH TRUMP

Trump has previously suggested he would consider placing Washington under greater federal control if Lewis George were elected mayor.

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«I wouldn’t like it — and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,» Trump told reporters earlier this month. «We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.»

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.