Expert: Dragging out negotiations will only harm Armenia

Dragging out the negotiations on the delimitation of the borders with Azerbaijan will only harm Armenia, Russian political expert, Director of the Institute of Contemporary State Development Dmitri Solonnikov said in a comment on the November 26 Sochi meeting of the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.

"Dragging out the process is like death for Armenia. There is discontent in society in the country among various extremist, revanchist groups that have sponsors abroad. Realizing all this, Armenia has agreed to an agreement. Under these circumstances, those countries that do not want to see the South Caucasus prosperous and a united region have lost," he opined.

He added that neither Azerbaijan nor Russia has complicated economic processes, and the economies of both countries are developing positively. It is Armenia that is on the verge of a new civil war, its economy has been destroyed, there is no economic future, and it would seem that Nikol Pashinyan is interested in new economic mechanisms to work, new transport corridors to appear, borders are to be opened and trade with neighbors to be resumed. In particular, Solonnikov stressed that Armenia will only benefit from the fulfillment of the conditions of the trilateral statement.

In his opinion, Russia’s tough position, which says that in no case will give up its friendly relations with Azerbaijan, has led to the fact that Pashinyan was forced now, without waiting for the Brussels meeting and negotiations in the OSCE format with France, to say that the demarcation of the border will take place.

“Russia has reiterated that all the agreements, as they were signed, will remain further – borders will be defined, there will be no more questions about who owns Karabakh. It was the Zangazur corridor that was once again marked in the specified original format,” Dmitri Solonnikov added.