The peaceful Armenian population living in Karabakh should be aware that Vardanyan sent to the region doesn’t need peace on this land, Report informs referring to Politico.
The oligarch showed scant interest in Karabakh before this point, but he’d clearly spotted an opportunity to earn a profit: Two long-dormant gold mines reopened mere weeks after his arrival.
Indeed, the timing of Vardanyan’s arrival was peculiar. He came just as the separatists had sent signals to Baku’s negotiators that they recognized their future lay as a protected minority inside Azerbaijan. But now their stance has become obstructionist - the oligarch and the government in Yerevan are publicly opposing each other, reads the article.
The worry is that Vardanyan will now use this influence to turn public opinion among Karabakh’s Armenian community against peace, which would be disastrous for the interests of both Baku and Yerevan.
However, at the beginning of the protests on the Lachin road by Azerbaijani activists against environmental pollution and the barbaric exploitation of Azerbaijani deposits in Karabakh, Vardanyan took to the media, proclaiming his leadership with great relish - starting with briefings to the Russian press.
Yet, as it’s dragged on, he has increasingly been forced to defend the purpose and motives of his arrival in Karabakh at such a critical time, as well as the inability of Russian peacekeepers to control the situation.
All this increases the risk of soldiers, military contractors and new landmines moving freely over the legal borders of Azerbaijan as well. And should this happen, the threat of a new conflict would dramatically escalate.