ArmInfo.Not having a mandate for a mediation mission to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the EU has a clear plan in this process. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by Fyodor Lukyanov, research director at the International Valdai discussion club, member of presidium of Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).
"All three meetings in Brussels are part of this plan, the purpose of which is to carry out a mediation mission in essence with the accompanying goal of protecting the interests of the EU and the United States in this settlement. And the very fact that none of the co-chair countries denies their role in the OSCE Minsk Group demonstrates that all three countries understand the situation in which only the Minsk Group has the only mandate to mediate between Yerevan and Baku," he said.
Based on the analysis of the statements made in Brussels, the analyst singled out among them the intention to postpone the resolution of the issue of the status of Artsakh for the future. According to him, the EU is now exclusively interested in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations in the regional context. And, in his opinion, the prospects for the current process largely depend on how and when the war in Ukraine ends and, of course, on what agreements were reached by Yerevan and Baku earlier.
In this light, Lukyanov considers the strengthening of the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan a possible task for the EU. First of all, because it will allow Brussels not to constantly deal with the conflict, but to work for its final settlement, of course, it would be preferable without Moscow's participation.
"If Russia and the EU are not involved in all this, by and large, it does not matter how the conflict will be resolved. The main thing is that its parties come to an agreement in the form of a peace agreement. This is the goal of Brussels. But whether it will happen, depends on the outcome of the Ukrainian developments and how all this will end for the Russian Federation. So the stakes are quite high, which, among other things, is evidenced by the readiness of the EU to implement social and economic assistance programs in the region. Not to mention the positions of the parties to the conflict for which it is not the solution of the conflict that is paramount, but on what specific conditions it will be resolved," the analyst summed up.