ARMENIAN EXPERTS CONCERNED ABOUT HASTY ACTIONS OF RUSSIA IN ISSUE OF SETTLEMENT OF KARABAKH CONFLICT

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23, 2008

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. The OSCE Minsk Group is under threat
of collapse which depends on global processes, in particular, the
increased confrontation between the U.S. and Russia in recent period,
Stepan Grigorian, the head of the Analytical Center of Globalization
and Regional Development, said at a round table organized by the
Caucasus Media Institute on October 23.

In his words, during the current process of force distribution
in the South Caucasus, Russia is trying to strengthen its role
in the region, and one manifestation is the initiative to arrange
a meeting of the presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in
Moscow. The political scientist expressed an opinion that in the
name of its geopolitical interests, Russia is prepared to speed
up artificially the resolution of the Karabakh conflict – to the
detriment of the interests of the Armenian side. "If Russia wants
to improve its relations with Azerbaijan, it may allocate one of
its border territories with Azerbaijan, say, an area of 5 thousand
square meters, to that country. It would be more correct instead
of trying to solve its problems with Azerbaijan at the expense of
Nagorno Karabakh," S. Grigorian said. In his opinion, any attempt to
accelerate artificially the solution of the problem is fraught with
negative consequences. For example, according to him, Georgia was in
a great hurry to resolve the conflicts in its territory, which led
to consequences negative for Georgia. S. Grigorian considered the
role of the U.S. in the region to be in general constructive.

The deputy director of the Caucasus Media Institute Sergei Minasian
also expressed concern about the excessive activation and haste
in the issue of the Karabakh conflict settlement. In his opinion,
Russia’s initiative to organize a meeting of the three presidents
in Moscow came as a surprise to the two other countries – co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, the U.S. and France, which are certainly
displeased with this step of Russia.