AZERBAIJANI GAS NOT TO INFLUENCE MOSCOW’S POSITION ON KARABAKH

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
02.07.2009 16:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia closely followed RF President Dmitry
Medevedevs’s visit to Baku and signature of agreement on purchasing
Azerbaijani gas, Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of Caucasus
Institute, told a news conference in Yerevan. "Armenian society was
concerned over the prospect of Moscow’s exchanging NKR for Azerbaijani
gas," Armenian political scientist noted.

But Moscow, according to him, needs Azerbaijani gas for implementing
its energy strategy in Europe and impeding realization of Nabucco
project. In the meantime, the speaker found Baku’s concerns
ungrounded. "Despite economic and energy interests, Moscow gives
preference to geopolitical interests. It is necessary to remember
that Yerevan and Moscow have recently agreed upon a number of serious
issues such as creation of CSTO rapid reaction forces," he said.

By signing a document, Moscow and Baku only agreed upon the terms of
the future agreement, the expert noted. "Baku pretends to be conducting
a complementary policy. I don’t think gas negotiations will in any way
influence Russia’s positions on Karabakh settlement," Minasyan said.