BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 6
Trend:
The OSCE Minsk Group has failed to fulfill its task in the South Caucasus and now it must deal with new issues, Director of the Russian Institute for Political Studies, Russian analyst Sergei Markov told Trend while commenting on a statement made following a videoconference meeting with President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President Emmanuel Macron as part of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU, President of the European Council Charles Michel and Prime Minister of the Republic Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.
The OSCE Minsk Group was not mentioned in this statement.
"The OSCE Minsk Group was created to resolve the Karabakh conflict, but failed to fulfill this task due to the pro-Armenian position in the group," Markov added. "Armenia's position was to conduct endless negotiations, hide behind these negotiations as if behind a screen and do nothing related to the peaceful settlement of the Karabakh conflict."
The Russian analyst stressed that that’s why the OSCE Minsk Group failed to implement its mission and the situation resulted in the second Karabakh war.
Markov added that the OSCE Minsk Group also failed as a possible mediator due to France’s previous unbalanced position.
"The failure of the OSCE Minsk Group is obvious," the Russian analyst said. "Now the OSCE Minsk Group wants to re-join the negotiation process, but it is too late."
Markov said that there is no need for the OSCE Minsk Group to do this.
"Amid this situation, Russia and Azerbaijan propose the OSCE Minsk Group to deal with new issues rather than the issues which it completely failed to resolve," the Russian analyst said.
The Russian analyst added that among the new issues are the restoration of transport corridors, the opening of the Zangazur corridor, the creation of humanitarian programs, the relationship between the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia, the creation of conditions for the rapid demarcation and delimitation of borders.
"This could be a new mission, new tasks for the OSCE Minsk Group," Markov said.