Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The South Caucasus is the zone of Moscow’s direct interests, and it would be naive to assume that other countries would be involved more than Russia in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian political analyst and expert on international issues Evgeny Mikhailov told Trend on May 2.

Russia along with the U.S. and France is a co-chair country of the OSCE Minsk Group established to broker a peace to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The expert said that Moscow has historically been the guarantor of security for Armenia; therefore, it is not surprising that Russia is the most consistent and serious negotiator on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“The main victory of Russia is that it keeps the process of settlement of the Karabakh issue under full control and it does not fall for provocations of the Armenian side, which regularly shells territory of Azerbaijan in an attempt to involve Moscow in the fighting on their side,” said the expert.

Mikhailov believes that in future Russia may become the possible bridge for the full restoration of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia in case of the conflict settlement.

The expert added that the reconciliation is possible only if Azerbaijan gets back its territories through diplomatic negotiations.

For more than two decades Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a state of war following Yerevan’s aggression, ethnic cleansing policy and illegal territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenia keeps under control over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions in a brutal war in the early 1990s.

Armenia still controls fifth part of Azerbaijan's territory and rejects implementing four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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