Russian politician, Candidate of Historical Sciences Andranik Mihranyan touched upon the settlement of the Artsakh conflict today.

He said that it is natural that there are concerns about the problem, because no one can say what the resolution will ever be, so there are some concerns. Asked what steps can be taken after St. Petersburg agreements and why the Co-Chairs are so passive, he replied that indeed, the Minsk Group does not only provide the necessary impact on Baku, but concrete steps are not taken either, probably due to their regional interests, either they do not have resources or do not have a proper influence on that country, because Azerbaijan enjoys serious support from Turkey, Pakistan.

As for the Russian side, according to Mihranyan, given the fact that Russia is trying to maintain the greatest influence in the post-Soviet countries and Azerbaijan is not a member of the EAEU, it is not a CSTO member, in any case it tries not to miss Azerbaijan and to strengthen its positions in the South Caucasus. At this stage, Russia has economic interests with Azerbaijan.

Asked whether selling weapons to Azerbaijan could trigger new tensions, Mihranyan replied, “The Azerbaijani side always provokes, creates tension, it declares publicly about using force from open platforms, but in my opinion, the war in April showed that the chairs could overlook some blitzkrieg, if Azerbaijan succeeded”.

According to Mihranyan, taking into account that last year the blitzkrieg grew into a large-scale military operation, the parties concerned, first of all, Russia interfered: “If Azerbaijan is convinced that it will succeed in blitzkrieg and strengthen its position, will achieve serious successes, then it will be possible, but large-scale military operations in the region are not profitable for anyone, especially that there are already conflicts in neighbouring countries and increasing the conflict zone is not beneficial to anyone. There is still the issue of Syria, Iraq, there are enormous problems. So, I rule out the resumption of the war”.

Journalists asked, as a figure living in Russia, whether he thinks that Russia is interested in resolving the Artsakh issue or is it beneficial for it to last for as long as possible. Andranik Mihranyan replied that yes, there is a view that Russia is creating a conflict, regulating it, it is in Russia’s interests, as if we do not know the Armenian-Azerbaijani internal problems: “Of course, Russia has interests in the region, and this conflict also serves its interests”.

Mihranyan recalled the first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan’s meeting with Boris Yeltsin: “He said we are expecting some reward from you because we have returned Azerbaijan to the CIS thanks to our victory in Karabakh, because Azerbaijan would leave the CIS”.

Hripsime JEBEJYAN