ALEXANDER ISKANDARYAN: MOSCOW WAS MOST INTERESTED IN SIGNING THE TRILATERAL DECLARATION
Alisa Gevorgyan

"Radiolur"
05.11.2008 16:42

Moscow had more motives or signing the declaration between the
Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia than Yerevan, Baku or
Stepanakert: perhaps, the document refers to the Russian-Georgian
conflict rather than the Karabakh issue, political scientist Alexander
Iskandaryan told a press conference today.

Not attaching much importance to the document, the political scientist
does not attempt to undermine its real value, either. "Nothing bad is
written in it, but I don not think that there is something that gives
way to consider that a real change has taken place. The situation in
the region has changed after the Russian-Georgian conflict. In fact,
Russia’s relations with Georgia are frozen. In this situation the
renewal of relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan was predictable."

According to the political scientist, Medvedev’s visit to Baku and
Yerevan can be viewed in this context. "When you deal with Armenia and
Azerbaijan, you cannot but speak about the Karabakh issue," Alexander
Iskandaryan said, adding that it was the main motive for the birth of
the Moscow Declaration. The second motive was the wish of Moscow to
improve its international rating after the Russian-Georgian conflict.

Political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan is not very optimistic about
UA President-elect Barack Obama’s pledge to recognize the Armenian
Genocide. According to him, pre-election rhetoric and post-election
policy are completely different things.

Alexander Iskandaryan underlined that the American Armenian community
is consolidated unlike other communities and demonstrates a common
approach during the elections. Deriving from this logic, Barack
Obama’s statements on recognition of the Armenian Genocide could be
part of his pre-election strategy.

According to Alexander Iskandaryan’s assessment, there will hardly
be sharp changes in the foreign policy of the US.