PROSPECTS FOR RESOLUTION OF KARABAKH CONFLICT DOUBTFUL: RUSSIAN EXPERT

Today.Az
Aug 26 2009
Azerbaijan

26 August 2009 [16:28] – Today.Az

"Prospects for resolution of Karabakh conflict are doubtful as
conflicting parties’ stance remain fundamentally incompatible,"
Vice President of Russia’s Center for Political Technologies Sergey
Mikheyev said.

"I think it is not realistic," Mikheyev said commenting on the idea
of creating so-called Caucasian home, commonwealth of North and
South Caucasus republics, intended to promote peace and stability in
the region.

"Caucasus is divided by national boundaries. Often the Caucasus
states openly feud with each other. In such circumstances, I see no
possibility to implement such initiatives in the coming years. We
must be realistic – the Caucasus has never in its history lived
peacefully. Neither internally nor with their neighbors. Memories
of relatively prosperous Soviet past mislead us. But in historical
terms it was fairly short period," Mikheyev said.

In a response to the question "Do not you think that in the example
of the Karabakh conflict, Moscow can restore the image of peacemaker
country undermined by the events of last August in the South
Caucasus?" said the following: "I do not think that the point is who
exactly is mediator. The main point is that Baku and Yerevan are not
ready to make any serious concessions to each other and everybody
expects that mediators to put pressure on the other and then we can
settle everything without special concessions. This position seems
to me a dead-end."

He also commented on possibility of trying a military solution: "In
the Caucasus, it is better refrain from using weapons for any reason,
because the consequences would be "lasting" and "difficult to solve".