Russian expert: Full-fledged chances for settlement of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict were not used

Moscow. 7 March. REPORT.AZ/ The aggravation of the situation on the contact line between the troops of Azerbaijan and Armenia is a direct consequence of the unresolved Karabakh problem after the April war of last year. The political scientist, chairman of the Expert Council of Research Support Foundation "Workshop of Eurasian Ideas" Gregory Trofimchuk told Report's Russian bureau.

"The current aggravation of the conflict in Karabakh is a direct result of the fact that after April 2016 war, there has been no progress towards solving the problem. Baku was much counting on the fact that talks, as well as the summits in Vienna and St. Petersburg, will give at least some result. And now, after the February victims, one gets the impression that the events in Karabakh do not interest anyone, including the organizers of the above-mentioned summits", said G. Trofimchuk.

According to the political scientist, the reason for what is happening is that Russia lacks "new breakthrough ideas," which can exclude a military option to resolve the issue.

He expressed the opinion that, situation around Nagorno-Karabakh is critical, since the full chances for settling the conflict itself were not used.

"Let me remind you of these chances: the first is immediately after the Armistice of 1994, which lasted for more than 20 years and did not lead to anything, the second one was immediately after the last April war, and a third even shorter chance appeared after presidential elections in US.Then 3 countries - Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia - could quite resolve this conflict on their own, "G. Trofimchuk believes.

According to the political scientist, now West will push through its point of view, including in the context of the confrontation between the US and Iran.

The head of the expert council recalled that, Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of the negotiation process.

"The official position of Baku is clearer than ever, therefore it is worth looking for concrete solutions, at least formally putting the sides at the negotiating table", G. Trofimchuk has said.