RUSSIA NOT TO HAVE DECISIVE INFLUENCE ON KARABAKH CONFLICT SETTLEMENT: RUSSIAN POLITICAL EXPERT

Yerevan, February 12. ArmInfo. Russia will not be able to have a
decisive influence on the Karabakh conflict, a well- known Russian
political expert, Leonid Radzikhovsky, told ArmInfo correspondent
in Moscow.

He explained his belief by the fact that Russia is very spiritless
within CIS. He noted that Russia will direct its attention to
Armenia in a foreseeable future for the reason that Azerbaijan is
much more independent of Russia. According to Radzikhovsky, in case
of the conflict aggravation, Russia will support Armenia by 60%
and Azerbaijan – by 40%. "The support of Armenia is concerned with
Russia’s desire to control the important strategic sections of oil
and gas lines, while Azerbaijan is a partner and a competitor in this
issue", the political expert said, having underlined that Russia will
give neither political nor diplomatic support to any conflicting side.

Touching upon the analogues of the Karabakh conflict with the Kosovo
one, L. Radzikhovsky ruled out the possibility of precedent for
Karabakh. He argued his belief by the fact that Kosovo is governed by
the UN mandate, while Karabakh and other hot spots in the post-Soviet
territory "are governed by themselves", without the dictate of
international right in the person of the UN.
From: Baghdasarian