Political analyst Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan has weighed in on the Azerbaijani invasion of an Artsakh village on Thursday.
He claims if the Azerbaijani troops are not pushed back from the village of Parukh and the adjacent heights as soon as possible, it means that the success of the Russian military in Mariupol and Izyum is “for naught”.
“We must be well aware of the current geopolitical realities and the purpose of events unfolding around us. Artsakh and Ukraine are not the main goals of the conflict between Russia and the West. The goals are different and are much more global. Artsakh and Ukraine are just two fronts of this conflict. And if Russia really believes that the country has enough potential to restore its former zones of influence, it has to prove that it is able to serve two fronts and, if necessary, three or four,” he wrote on Facebook.
Melik-Shahnazaryan believes the Russian peacekeeping mission in Artsakh is now "on the verge of failure".
“They took responsibility for ensuring stability on our geopolitical front and are failing. They are failing disgracefully,” he stated.
“The Russians have only two ways out of this situation. I have already talked about the first one: they must drive the Azerbaijanis back to their starting positions. Moreover, they must hold them to account for their brazen behavior.
“This is a pro-Armenian solution to the problem. But there is also a second way, which would be simply destructive for us. It is as follows: the Russian side contains the discontent of Armenians, pretending as if nothing serious has happened in Artsakh. This is, of course, a temporary solution for Russia in this difficult times. But it is there, and our main task as a people should be not to let it happen.
“It makes no sense to pin our hopes on the authorities. The Armenian society must solve this problem, using its resources, including the media, the expert community, political forces, intellectuals, etc. At the same time, we have very little time for all this, literally one or two days,” the analyst said.