Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement that "the decision of the Armenian side to revive the old border checkpoint located 15 kilometers from the Azerbaijani export pipelines launched a flywheel of confrontation on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia with the most unpredictable consequences" is the direct accusation of the Armenian government as the initiator of the conflict escalation in the direction of Azerbaijan’s Tovuz district.
Immediately after this serious accusation, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan arranged an award ceremony for the servicemen and commanders who committed a provocation on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and, under the pretext of holding a meeting at the headquarters of the occupation army, went to the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
In fact, the visit of the head of the government to the occupied Azerbaijani territories was caused by a political situation as a result of a provocation organized by the Armenian Defense Ministry on a section of the state border near Tovuz district.
Pashinyan realizes that having little control over the Armenian Defense Ministry in Yerevan, he is practically on the verge of losing control over the Armenian Armed Forces deployed in the occupied Azerbaijani territories and the puppet "regime" created in Khankendi.
Yerevan is well aware that currently the main challenge and source of threat to the rule of Pashinyan in Armenia is the puppet Karabakh regime, whose leadership has close ties and patrons in Moscow.
The publication of the press-secretary of the so-called "President of Karabakh" Poghosyan on Facebook, where he directly addresses the natives of Nagorno-Karabakh region living in Russia, or rather to the odious "Karabakh clan", hostile to Pashinyan and his entourage, is remarkable.
Contrary to the policy of Pashinyan's "Soros’s Men" team in Armenia, the puppet regime in Nagorno-Karabakh regime is in favor of expanding the ties with Russia, in particular, by increasing the TV and radio airtime in Russian language. It is planned to increase the number of hours devoted to learning the Russian language at schools, as well as to increase the number of signs in this language in the occupied zone.
At present, two figures of the puppet "administration" are ruling in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. These are so-called President Arayik Harutyunyan and so-called Secretary of the National Security Council, criminal element Samvel Babayan. Both belong to the Moscow-oriented "Karabakh clan".
Babayan's statement that the Nagorno-Karabakh region should be transferred under the Russia’s mandate is known to everybody.
Thus, we are witnessing two antagonistic tendencies – "Rusification" in the Nagorno-Karabakh region amid the closure of the Russian TV channels in Armenia and language pressure on Russia in Yerevan.
The power that is oriented towards Russia has actually formed in the occupied territories in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, while Armenia is moving step by step in the western direction.
Despite the "allied" relations, assurances of "eternal friendship of the Armenians towards Russians", an unprecedented quantity of the Russian weapons which are supplied to Armenia for dirt cheap, the fact is that the Western influence begins to prevail over the Russian influence in this country.
In response, Moscow, with the assistance of the "Karabakh clan" and its people in Khankendi city, is trying to strengthen its influence in the region.
The activity of the puppet administration in the occupied territories actually runs counter to Yerevan’s policy. So, Pashinyan's visit to the Nagorno-Karabakh region under the pretext of a meeting at the headquarters of the occupying army is a poorly hidden attempt to keep the situation under Yerevan's control.
However, the powerful pressure of the "Karabakh clan" during the unsettled conflict with Azerbaijan determines the fact that Armenia is on the verge of losing influence in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, Head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network
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