Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic
July 7 2004

Oskanian Discusses Karabakh On Russia Visit

By Aza Babayan in Moscow 07/07/2004 11:01

The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and economic issues figured prominently
during Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian talks with senior Russian
officials in Moscow on Tuesday.

Oskanian met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and
high-level lawmakers on a rare visit to the Russian capital which
some observers in Yerevan link to the renewed international efforts
to find a solution to the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute.

`We discussed the Karabakh problem and can talk about some positive
movements there,’ Lavrov told a joint news conference with his
Armenian counterpart. He cited the recent series of meetings between
the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers as well as the `more
active’ work of the Russian, French and U.S. co-chairs of the OSCE’s
Minsk Group.

Both Lavrov and Oskanian would not go into details of their
discussions on Karabakh. The latter said only that he is `very
satisfied’ with the results of the talks. `This shows that the agenda
of our dialogue is quite extensive and deep,’ he said.

A separate statement by the Armenian Foreign Ministry said Oskanian
briefed Lavrov on his trilateral meeting in Istanbul last week with
the Azerbaijani and Turkish foreign ministers. Turkey is seen as
trying to overcome Azerbaijani opposition to the reopening of its
border with Armenia with efforts to facilitate a Karabakh settlement.

The statement said Russian-Armenian commercial ties was another major
topic of the Moscow talks, with both sides agreeing on the need for
`restoring transport communication’ between the two allied states.
`The Russian side promised to keep the issue at the center of its
attention,’ it said, underscoring Armenia’s long-running efforts to
restore rail communication with Russia via Georgia’s breakaway
republic of Abkhazia.

Oskanian was also cited as calling for a `prompt revival’ of the five
state-run Armenian enterprises that were handed over to Russia last
year as part of a swap agreement to settle Yerevan’s $100 million
debt to Moscow. Critics have questioned the Russians’ ability to
breathe a new life into those enterprises, claiming that the deal has
only deepened Armenia’s economic dependence on its former Soviet
master.

Unlike President Robert Kocharian who seems to take every opportunity
to confer with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Oskanian has not
been a frequent guest in Moscow since being appointed foreign
minister in 1998. Tuesday’s meetings marked his first official visit
to the country.

They also led to a surprise revelation that Lavrov, who was the
Kremlin’s longtime representative to the United Nations before
becoming foreign minister recently, has ethnic Armenian roots. `I
have Armenian blood,’ he told journalists. `My father is an Armenian
from Tbilisi.’