Expert: Russia's influence on Armenia not easy as before - OPINION

Moscow. 15 November. REPORT.AZ/ The meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow is called upon to resume the negotiation process on the Vienna agreements.

Russian political scientist Alexey Fenenko told the Russian bureau of Report News Agency.

According to him, in the negotiation process on Nagorno-Karabakh a clear crisis emerged, which should be stopped.

"After the meetings in Vienna and St. Petersburg, agreements were drawn up that envisaged the beginning of a political dialogue with the simultaneous demilitarization of some occupied regions by Armenia.

It was not about Nagorno-Karabakh, whose status was to be determined later, but about the areas around it, occupied by the Armenian troops. For a year and a half, there was a deadlock in the negotiation process and now there is a need to intensify the talks. I think, the meeting of ministers is called upon to find out whether agreements are not dead. As for the breakthrough in the negotiations, it is possible in case its breakdown would mean greater danger for the parties than its execution”, Fenenko stressed.

The expert believes that the delay in negotiations is for several reasons, including the internal political situation in Armenia and unequivocal statements by the Americans about the support of the Armenian side.

"Armenia took results of last year's CSTO summit painfully, at which it openly declared that the allies guarantee the independence of Armenia, but not Nagorno-Karabakh. This led to the intensification of the Karabakh clan and nationalists, who demanded tough steps from the Armenian leadership to protect Karabakh”, - A.Fenenko noted.

According to him, in recent years Armenia has begun too strong rapprochement with NATO, so Russia decided to pursue a balanced policy towards it.

"Before, ruling circles of Russia considered Armenia to be a more loyal ally and more profitable partner than Azerbaijan. On another hand, growing economic power of Azerbaijan and development of economic ties with Russia also provide for some kind of political support, political scientist noted.

According to him, it is not so easy to influence Russia today as it was in 1990s, but there are still levers of influence given the country's membership in the EAEU and CSTO.