Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Director of the Russian Center for Public Policy Research Vladimir Yevseyev assessed the activity of the OSCE Minsk Group over the settlement process of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as inefficient.

The Russian expert told Trend Agency on March 4 that the format of the OSCE Minsk Group does not work and cannot work.

He even said that maybe the group does not want to break the deadlock into the peace process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

"Understanding it, Russia is disappointed in Minsk Group format. Two Minsk Group co-chairs - France and the U.S. - have a very influential Armenian diaspora, which exert a powerful pressure on these countries. This is not good for the work of the organization," Yevseyev said.

He said it is important today to create a new format of security in the region among Russia, Turkey and Iran, noting that each of the mentioned countries can influence its regional allies and partners.

Yevseyev said on one hand, these states are interested in the absence of war in the region, and on the other, in weakening the role of United States in the region, and strengthening the role of regional players.

"I think that it is necessary to put the Nagorno-Karabakh problem on top of the regional issues and to take the necessary steps in the beginning, such as withdrawal of snipers from the frontline. It would be logical to liberate occupied territories around Nagorno-Karabakh, but I have no idea how to achieve it," Yevseyev said.

He noted that it is necessary to work out common rules of the game in the region. "It is not an easy way, but perhaps there is simply no other way."

For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

A fragile ceasefire has been in place since 1994, but long-standing efforts by the U.S., Russian and French mediators have been largely fruitless so far.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on its pullout from the neighboring country's territories.