Forecast: Moscow does not want and will not turn the CSTO into the CIS

ArmInfo. Azerbaijan's entry into structures in which Armenia is already participating will finally finish off the CIS and turn the same CSTO into the CIS, which Moscow does not want and will never do. This opinion on June 21 at a press conference in Yerevan was expressed by leading researcher at the Center for Euro-Atlantic Security at the Institute of International Studies at Moscow State Institute for International Relations, Sergey Markedonov.

"In this light, I assess the rumors about Azerbaijan's entry into the CSTO, which have intensified last year, as greatly exaggerated. It seems to me that there is no such issue on the real agenda. However, this topic is used by Baku as an element of information pressure on Yerevan to demonstrate the new authorities of Armenia pro-Western and not loyal to Russia, "he stressed. In the same context, the analyst noted the intensification of Azerbaijani-Belarusian cooperation. According to his estimates, the participation of the Belarusian "Polonez" in the military parade in Baku was a symbolic step from the strategic perspective of demonstrating that membership in the CSTO itself does not guarantee Armenia.

Commenting on the latest impulses around Karabakh, Markedonov noted the observed relative calm, stressing the need for its consolidation. In this light, he stressed the importance of last year's Dushanbe agreement of Prime Minister Armenian Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.  According to his estimates, it was the meeting in Dushanbe that made it possible to agree on the exchange of information about incidents on the Line of Conflict. After that, several meetings followed between the leaders and foreign ministers of the two countries. "Nevertheless, Armenophobia from Azerbaijan's national policy has not gone away. And this policy, as before, is carried out at the highest level. In particular, Baku asserts that it's all Armenians who are responsible for the conflict around Karabakh, not the Republic of Armenia. We see the result of a ban on entry into the country of Armenians even with Russian passports. At the same time, it is necessary to emphasize the authorities' rather tolerant attitude towards other ethnic groups in Azerbaijan, "the analyst said.