POLITICAL SCIENTIST ALEXANDR SKAKOV: "OSCE MINSK GROUP’S STRANGE OPTIMISM HAS NO GROUNDS"

Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
June 11 2008

Baku. Tamara Grigorieva-AAP. "The negotiations over Nagorno Karabakh
conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group give nothing to the parties",
said Alexandr Skakov, head of CIS Department of Russian Strategic
Research Institute in the Yerevan-Moscow-Baku teleconference.

He said negotiations were the same in any format. "The main issue is
that the negotiations were the same within CIS, or UN and OSCE and it
was not important where the negotiations were imitated. Therefore there
is no need in self-deception about the results of the negotiations
within the OSCE Minsk Group. These negotiations give nothing to the
parties. OSCE Minsk Group’s strange optimism has no grounds and they
try to create appearance of useless work". Skakov said relying on the
factor of time was also irrelevant. "It is impossible to hope that
twenty years later Azerbaijan will become the strong country and the
problem will find its solution on its own terms, because the time is
working not only in favor of Azerbaijan, but also in favor of Armenia
and Nagorno Karabakh". Skakov said it was important to establish
Baku-Yerevan and Baku-Khankendi platforms for the negotiations.