View from Moscow: Submission of Yerevan to "basic principles" is not  a whim, but a recognition of the existing realities

ArmInfo.Compliance with the rules of the "basic principles" is not a whim, but Yerevan's recognition of the existing realities. Complex and contradictory,  which, according to the will of the crowd or due to the fantasies of  other "geopolitical designers", cannot be canceled, Russian analyst  Sergei Markedonov expressed such an opinion to ArmInfo. 

On September 18, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian at the  Armenia-Diaspora forum designated territorial territories as possible  territorial concessions, "in the transfer of which there will not be  a threat to the security of Artsakh and will not be endangered by a  final settlement of the conflict." The next day, his deputy Shavarsh  Kocharian expressed bewilderment at the rumors and assumptions about  the "surrender of land", giving a brief reference on the negotiation  process and the content of the updated Madrid principles.

"The question of the reasons for the absence of Yerevan's attempts to  nullify the" basic principles "that many Armenian journalists,  bloggers, civil activists, especially after April 2016, is perceived  as a sound decision on the surface, however, politics is the art of  the possible. Abkhazia, South Ossetia or Donbas, Armenia and  Azerbaijan cannot use their conflict as an "intermediary  confrontation" between Russia and the West, "he said.

In this light, the desire to "nullify" the current negotiating  process seems to Markedonov a challenge not only to Moscow, but also  to Washington and Paris. According to him, it is not a fact that  Georgia and Iran will like this decision. In this case, Turkey will  only tighten its already tough position with regard to Armenia. The  analyst assesses the idea of the successful solution of the Karabakh  conflict for the Armenian parties with the withdrawal of Armenia from  the EEU and the reorientation from Russia to the West as a dangerous  illusion. According to him, despite the periodic criticism of Baku  and Ankara, the EU and the US see Azerbaijan as an important energy  partner, and Turkey as an ally in NATO. And there are no plans to  push Turkey out of NATO. Azerbaijan is seen as an alternative to  Russia's "energy imperialism". "In this light, at the cost of the  issue in the process of Armenia's potential geopolitical  reorientation, Yerevan's" compulsion "for concessions on Karabakh may  well become, and not in the format of the current Nalbandyan  palliatives," concluded Markedonov.