Thursday, November 23 2017 17:59

ArmInfo. "There is no need to fear that Russia will insist on concessions to Azerbaijan in the Karabakh issue, Russia certainly wants Azerbaijan to join the EAEC,  but this will not affect the negotiation process in any way," the  press conference on November 23 said the director of the Institute of  Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia,  Professor Ruben Safrastyan.

The expert noted that, despite the fact that Russia wants to  strengthen the EAEC, It also takes into account the fact that Armenia  is one of its main strategic partners. "The fact is that Russia is  fighting for establishment of its influence in the region and in this  case the best Armenia is an ally of Moscow. The Russian authorities  are well aware that we are their faithful ally, and in no way will  they bring interests of Armenia as a sacrifice in order to achieve  Azerbaijan's accession to the EAEU "- the political scientist noted.

Safrastyan also said that, despite Russia's desire, Azerbaijan itself  is not eager to join the EAEU. "The fact is that the AR, in contrast  to Armenia, has oil, which it seeks to sell favorably, and when it  joins the EAE, this price will drop significantly when exported to  the member countries of the structure.Thus, the Azerbaijani elite can  continue the game with Russia, but is unlikely to agree to join the  structure, "the expert assured.

The political scientist also touched on Lavrov's statement that it  takes time to resolve such a conflict as Karabakh. "Thus, Lavrov  wanted to reassure the Armenian public and show that the position of  the Russian Federation has not changed," the expert said.

It should be noted that on November 21 in Yerevan at a joint press  conference with Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandyan, the  Minister of Foreign Affairs Russia, Sergei Lavrov, said that Russia,  along with colleagues from France and the United States, will try to  make active efforts to create conditions for the settlement of the  Karabakh conflict. He stressed that all the components necessary to  solve this problem are available. "Decisions are made in many  documents that have been deposited with the OSCE Secretary General  since 2007, 2009, 2011, they are thus fixed as proposals of the  co-chairs, they remain on the negotiating table in their entirety."  The only thing I want to emphasize once again , as I said in Baku,  these components are formed into a package, and it is difficult to  take one, two or three and negotiate on their basis, because the  balancing components in this case fall out and there will not be the  same result that we all expect " said the grower ministerial  minister. However, according to Lavrov, the problem is difficult and  all the experience of these talks shows that they will not end  quickly.