Expert: US side benefits from demonstrating attention to South Caucasus - OPINION

The talks between the Foreign Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, and the meeting of the representatives of Baku and Yerevan with the adviser to the President of the USA John Bolton were orderly, the leading analyst at the Russian Agency for Political and Economic Communications Mikhail Neizhmakov told Report commenting on the results of the meeting of the Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers in Washington.

"Before yesterday’s visit of the Azerbaijani and Armenian FMs to Washington, a number of publications in the South Caucasus showed a great deal of interest not in negotiations between the two foreign ministers, but in their upcoming communication with John Bolton," Neizhmakov said.

He recalled the statement of former US Ambassador to Baku Matthew Bryza in his interview in late May, when, referring to rumors circulating in Washington, he called Bolton a possible lobbyist of the US "return" to the South Caucasus region.

Nevertheless, there are more reasons to believe that the talks of the Foreign Ministers and the meetings of representatives of Baku and Yerevan with the adviser to the US President were orderly ones. As a rule, tensions in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone increase in summer, resonant incidents on the line of contact were discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the Foreign Ministers in Washington. In these circumstances, it is important for the OSCE Minsk GROUP co-chairs to emphasize that they all well-informed about the situation,” the Russian expert stressed.

Leading analyst of the Russian Agency for political and economic communications Mikhail Neizhmakov

"In these circumstances, it is important for the OSCE Minsk GROUP co-chairs to emphasize that they all well-informed about the situation."

Mixail Neyjmakov

Siyasi və İqtisadi Kommunikasiyalar Agentliyinin aparıcı analitiki Mixail Neyjmakov&

He said that it is the possibility of escalation on the line of contact that will restrain the individual efforts of the mediator countries in the coming months – "in these circumstances, it is rather logical for them to monitor the situation for now than to try to strengthen their role in the negotiations and to come up with new public initiatives."

According to him, the US behaves frostily in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, pursuing a cautious tactic.

"In summer, Washington will rather adhere to the traditional approach: to set high expectations of the parties to the conflict, while avoiding responsibility for the situation. By no accident, the former US Ambassador to Yerevan John Evans noted that 'Bolton does not care about Nagorno Karabakh', while commenting on the talks between Elmar Mammadyarov and Zohrab Mnatsakanyan with the US President's National Security adviser. Assessing the US interests in connection with the visit of Azerbaijani and Armenian FMs to Washington, it can be noted that the US side can not benefit from demonstrating its attention to the situation in the South Caucasus in order to send signals to several international players, including Russia, Iran and the leading EU powers. However, it is worth repeating that it is not particularly profitable for Washington to make serious political investments in the Karabakh settlement now," the Russian analyst believes.