Agency WPS
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
January 26, 2007 Friday

KOSOVO PRECEDENT MAY BE TRIED WITH KARABAKH;
Leaders of Russia and Armenia are meeting in Sochi

by Yuri Simonjan

KARABAKH ISSUE AT PUTIN’S MEETING WITH KOCHARJAN AND NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN
AZERBAIJANI AND ARMENIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS IN MOSCOW; Russian and Armenian
leaders discuss the Karabakh issue in Sochi, Azerbaijani and Armenian
foreign ministers in Moscow.

The president of Armenia, Robert Kocharjan, is on a day-long visit to Sochi,
Russia, where he is meeting with President Vladimir Putin in his Bocharov
Ruchei residence. The two leaders are expected to discuss the whole spectrum
of Russian-Armenian relations.

Putin’s remark that the solution to the Kosovo problem may become the
universal approach applied to other conflicts as well adds to the spice of
the Russian-Armenian meeting. "This approach, this solution, should become
universal for analogous situations," the Russian leader said with some minor
reservations at the joint press conference with Angela Merkel this Monday.

Baku couldn’t help hearing and of course responding. "Azerbaijan remains
faithful to the Nagorno-Karabakh resolution talks within the framework of
the Prague Process. Territorial integrity of Azerbaijan is not the issue for
questioning," President Ilham Aliyev told his Cabinet.

Deterioration is reported in Nagorno-Karabakh in the meantime, despite the
presence of chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group in charge of the process of
conflict resolution. All of this provided the background for the meeting
between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers Elmar Mamedjarov and
Vardan Oskanjan in Moscow, this Tuesday. Armenian Defense Ministry in the
meantime denounced reports on actual clashes between the warring sides. "An
Armenian serviceman was shot by a marksman. There are no clashes or local
engagements in the area. The situation remains stable. It is not going to
have any negative effect on the negotiations," Defense Minister’s Press
Secretary Seiran Shahsuvarjan said.

Even if the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is stable, foreign ministers’
optimism on the eve of the Moscow meeting looked somewhat forced despite
assurances from Baku and Yerevan alike concerning the existence of
interesting documents that could really provide a breakthrough. The
negotiations themselves took place behind the closed doors.

"Expecting that the foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow would become a
turning point in the matter was somewhat naive," to quote Stepan Grigorjan,
the head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation
(Yerevan). The political scientist pins the blame for the talk’s lack of
progress on the lack of political will and insufficient legitimacy of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani authorities.

On the other hand, the meeting itself between the foreign ministers may be
regarded as progress, considering Kocharjan’s recent words that
Nagorno-Karabakh talks were to be suspended until after parliamentary
elections in Armenia whose date would be announced in February to avoid
political speculations.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, January 24, 2007, p. 7

Translated by A. Ignatkin