Today.Az » Politics » Russian expert: Lack of OSCE Minsk Group's reaction to Pashinyan's statements may end badly [EXCLUSIVE]
17 April 2019 [16:13] - Today.Az


By Azernews


By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Lack of reaction of the OSCE Minsk Group to the statements of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue may have a negative impact on the negotiation process, a Russian expert in the field of foreign policy, defense and security Grigory Trofimchuk said in an interview with Azernews.

He was commenting on Pashinyan's statement on the need to involve the illegal regime created in Karabakh in the conflict resolving negotiations.

The expert said that Armenia is not just delaying the resolution of the conflict, but is actually trying to change the format of the negotiations, which the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs should first pay attention to.

"It is strange that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs seem to be trying not to notice the statements of the Armenian prime minister. This can end badly, because Azerbaijan can conclude that it is deliberately provoked to take drastic actions, not to mention resumption of war," Trofimchuk noted.

Speaking of the anniversary of the 'velvet revolution' in Armenia, the expert said that there was not a revolution, but an interception of power, which so far has brought nothing concrete to the population of Armenia.

Trofimchuk reminded that the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan himself once said that a revolution can be considered to have taken place if it achieves its original goals.

Comparing the previous Armenian authorities with the post-revolutionary team of Pashinyan in terms of vision of the solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the expert noted the presence of fundamental differences.

"Sargsyan was just sitting quietly at the round negotiating table. This is clearly not enough for Pashinyan, and the Karabakh issue is one of the major issues for him. He began to demonstrate this immediately after coming to power," said the expert.

He also commented on the results of the recent meeting of the Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian foreign ministers in Moscow.

"Russia has never been aloof from the Karabakh settlement process, so immediately after the Vienna summit, a ministerial meeting was held in Moscow on the same issue," Trofimchuk said.

The expert believes that the meeting was held to start preparing for a summit between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Karabakh issue, since Putin has not yet met with Aliyev and Pashinyan together regarding this topic.

"However, Moscow does not separate itself from the Vienna meeting and declares that it moves in the light of all previous discussions. Similarly, after the April clashes in 2016, the first meeting took place in Vienna, and then immediately there was another one in St. Petersburg," he said.

Trofimchuk believes that the main point is that Azerbaijan is not going to get involved into a new unfruitful negotiation process, and that the country wants to clearly understand when it will finally get the territories back.

Touching upon the statement of the Armenian Minister of Defense David Tonoyan on the possibility of "moving hostilities to the territory of Azerbaijan", Trofimchuk said this statement is a direct continuation of testing Azerbaijan, just like the statements by Pashinyan.

"Tonoyan’s statement shows that Pashinyan’s team is completely different from the team of Sargsyan regarding the Karabakh negotiation process. I don’t think that the West is not standing behind such statements of the 'new Yerevan'. Perhaps this is the reason why the U.S. co-chair of the OSCE MG does not raise the issue of Pashinyan’s attempt to change the Karabakh talks format," the expert said.





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