At present Moscow is in the stage of making choice of the geo-political preferences in the South Caucasus, Russian political expert, Aleksey Vlasov, told Arminfo correspondent when replying to the question if new arrangements on Karabakh will be made between Moscow and Baku during Putin's visit to Azerbaijan.
Baku goes on thinking that Russia has enough effect upon Armenia to persuade Yerevan and Stepanakert to agree to the unilateral cede of positions in the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement.
"I think that in general the situation is not developing towards changing of landmarks. Moreover it is very hard to predict development of the situation in this direction. Will Putin discuss any new details on Karabakh?", - he said. At the same time, when asked if according to the result of the visit, Russia will refuse the policy of an active contradiction to the "bypassing" projects of the energy corridor, Vlasov replied that Nabucco seems to be finally dead. As for the Trans-Anatoly gas pipeline, this is a project which involves all the interested parties and Russia seems to be satisfied with Baku's choosing of just this project. At the same time, pointing at the interest of "Rosneft" to these projects, the expert did not rule out that the issue will be settled just during the present meeting of the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan.
When commenting on the viewpoint that Putin visits Baku also to support Aliyev on the threshold of the presidential election, Vlasov doubts about that and said that Aliyev hardly needs such a support.
So, he thinks that Moscow will not meddle with the presidential campaign in Azerbaijan, and this "neutrality" may be enough to Baku. As for the Kremlin's interests, they are rather strict regarding the energy issues, he said.