Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 24
By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:
Russia is interested in establishing more smooth prospective relations with Azerbaijan, the chairman of the Foreign and Defense Policy Council, editor-in-chief of the 'Russia in Global Affairs' journal, Fyodor Lukyanov, said Nov. 24 at a press conference at the Trend Agency in Baku.
Following the developments in Ukraine, Russia has been reassessing its relations with other post-Soviet countries to correct and address the failures in respect to any country, he said.
"In respect to Azerbaijan, there is a desire to restore this balance and improve it," Lukyanov said.
At the same time the expert noted that Moscow doesn't have any illusions that Azerbaijan can be lured into the Eurasian Economic Union.
Speaking about the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, he said the current frozen status quo is not reliable, and Russia has serious concerns that amid the growing instability in the world, and in particular in the entire post-Soviet area, this conflict may flare up again.
Lukyanov said that at the same time the foreign players in this conflict are interested in seeing that the situation doesn't change dramatically, and the conflict remains frozen.
"Today, [for them] the risk of interfering to change something is higher than the risks that may emerge in case of the continued, albeit shaky, status quo," Lukyanov said.
"The foreign players now have enough other, from their point of view, more important challenges. I think one can expect some diplomatic activation to calm things down, but I don't think it is worth waiting for a breakthrough [in resolving the conflict]," Lukyanov said.
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan.
As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the US are currently holding peace negotiations.
Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.
Edited by CN
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