ZATULIN: RUSSIA IS NOT INTERESTED IN SOMEBODY TRAINING IN SOUTH CAUCASUS LIKE IN IRAQ
Regnum, Russia
May 17 2006
Among South Caucasian countries only Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh are
interest in maintaining the status quo in the region, Member of the
Russian State Duma, Head of the CIS Countries’ Institute Konstantin
Zatulin has declared at the international conference called “Caucasus
without Conflicts and Terrorism. Dialog of Civilizations at Caucasian
Crossroad.”
According to him, Azerbaijan is not interested in maintaining the
current situation, as its interests concerning its territorial
integrity are infringed. “Today, elites of nations criticize the
Soviet rule, but they take from the past what is profitable for them,
in particular, Georgia and Azerbaijan like the borders they had under
the Soviets,” the MP noted. According to Zatulin, Georgia is not
interested in maintaining the status quo either: “it is interested in
soonest settlement of Abkhazian and Ossetian conflicts in its favor.”
According to Zatulin, Armenia has no internal problems that could bring
about collapse of the country, which cannot be said about Georgia and
Azerbaijan. “In Georgia, apart from Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts,
there is a problem of Samtskhe-Javakheti (Armenian-populated region
in Georgia – REGNUM), there is a problem in Marneuli District, where
Azerbaijani population lives, there is a problem with Megrels and
Adjarians. And in Azerbaijan, apart from Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
there is a problem with Talysh and Lezgin population,” noted the
Russian MP.
“Distance from Russia to Caucasus is less than from the USA, and Russia
is most of all interested in maintaining peace, even with unrecognized
republics. Our priority is peace in the region,” Konstantin Zatulin
noted adding that Russia is not interested in somebody training in
South Caucasus like in Iraq.