Azerbaijan's state energy firm SOCAR submitted an application to Russian oil pipeline operator Transneft to transport 1.209 million tonnes of oil via Russia in 2022, up from 1.09 million tonnes that is planned to be shipped this year.

Trade between Moldova and the "separatist" area is robust. Transnistria is even part of Moldova's Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) with the European Union, something unheard of in other "breakaway" ex-Soviet entities.

The resource-rich Central Asian nation of 34 million had been led by Mirziyoyev, who took over in late 2016 following the death of veteran leader Islam Karimov, who had run Uzbekistan with an iron fist for 27 years.

Though the package may be a boost to Lukashenko, isolated from the West, the IMF package is in fact automatic.

The United States, along with allies close to Georgia, issued a statement via its mission to the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe.