Haykakan Zhamanak, Armenia
April 1 2010

Moscow attack should push Russia to tackle Karabakh issue

The attacks on the Moscow metro on 29 March can become yet another
argument to convince the Russians that the Karabakh settlement should
not be delayed, the editor of the pro-opposition.

The Karabakh settlement should not be delayed because Russia’s North
Caucasus might be affected if war resumes between Armenia and
Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan said in a comment on 1 April.

"The possibility of this war should be a very serious concern for
Russia, because the war itself would mean an uncontrollable flow of
ammunition and armed groups. Like a chain reaction, instability could
reach the North Caucasus, which is well within the range of a shell to
be fired from the possible Armenian-Azerbaijani war zone," Pashinyan
said.

The Karabakh settlement is likely to top the list of Russia’s
priorities because tension in the region has increased due to the
developments in Armenian-Turkish relations and the probability of a
new Armenian-Azerbaijani war, Pashinyan said.

The editor believed that "only the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
and Armenian-Turkish relations can become the guarantee the prevention
of war".

The attacks in Moscow may boost Russia’s recent interest in
contributing to Armenian-Azerbaijani and Armenian-Turkish settlements
and "this can have a decisive meaning for further developments in the
Nagornyy Karabakh issue", the editor said.

Pashinyan hinted that the Moscow attacks may have had an impact on
recent developments in the Karabakh talks, saying the blasts coincided
with a 24-hour period between two different statements from the OSCE
Minsk Group Russian co-chair, Yuriy Merzlyakov. Merzlyakov said on 28
March after meeting the Karabakh president that the Armenian side
opposes some provisions of the Madrid principles of the settlement,
but denied this statement on 29 March after meeting the Armenian
leadership in Yerevan.

"It is a little improbable that Russian diplomacy would act with such
speed," the editorial said. "It is very likely that all this is mere
coincidence. However, it is known that there are no coincidences in
politics."