BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 28
By Jani Babayeva - Trend:
Everyone clearly understands in the current situation in the South Caucasus in relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia that the peak of the Karabakh conflict has already passed, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Chief Researcher of the Situational Analysis Center at the Institute of International Economy and Foreign Relations under the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Alexey Malashenko told Trend.
Touching upon the possible meeting of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan within the traditional informal meeting of the leaders of the member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States in St. Petersburg on December 28, Malashenko said that during this meeting the president and prime minister will speak about improving the relationships and situation.
"Obviously, the issue related to the Zangazur corridor will be discussed. The situation is stabilizing and everyone roughly understands what they want and what they can do. A peace treaty and unblocking of communications - these issues will be gradually resolved because these are objective processes,” the expert noted. “It’s time to reach an agreement, although it’s very difficult. When people tell me that there will be another war, I don’t believe it. There may be some provocations, but in general, even in Armenia people understand very well that this conflict has been put to an end.”
“Moreover, it seems that in Armenia more people understand that it’s necessary to think first of all about the economy, the solution of socio-economic issues, and this requires consolidation," he further said.
Malashenko reminded that this year the CIS celebrates its 30th anniversary, and at the meeting of the leaders of the CIS member states, the discussion will focus on the need for cooperation, interaction, and other issues.
“The most interesting is the bilateral contacts that will take place because Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet separately with each representative of each country. The interesting will be his talk with President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, and also President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon due to different positions with regard to Afghanistan,” he noted.
"Of course conversation [of Russian president] with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will be also very interesting. The presidents won’t discuss economic issues, because there are ministers and relevant officials for this, and where the situation is acute enough, the presidential word is important," he added.