At this stage the more times passes a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh will be more beneficial to Azerbaijan and simultaneously the possibility of restoration of military operations increases. According to Mediamax agency, the Armenian ex-President's former special representative on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and former head of the Armenian Special Service, David Shakhnazaryan and the leader of the National-Democratic Union, Vazgen Manukyan, who occupied the position of Armenia's Prime Minister and Defence Minister at the beginning of the 90s, share this opinion in Yerevan.
Shakhnazaryan said, "The resource of a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has been decreasing in recent years." According to Shakhnazaryan, the talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani Presidents "look just like a conversation rather than a peaceful process". Here the prospects of the OSCE Minsk Group are very murky, Shakhnazaryan noted. He did not rule out the possibility of new military operations by Russia, who is gradually being ousted from the region.
Shahnazarov believes the Kosovo problem will be settled politically, not legally, which "makes it difficult to achieve international acceptance of Kosovo as a legal precedent for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict".
Manukyan said, "The negotiations cannot be an end in itself" and noted the need of Armenia toughening its negotiation position.