ArmInfo.Although not desired, the statement of Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov was quite expected. Political scientist, Founder and President of the Modus Vivendi Center Ara Papyan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"Just a couple of months ago, I predicted new impulses around Artsakh due to the elections held there. The bottom line is that the initiators of these impulses need " legitimate "authorities capable of speaking on behalf of the Artsakh people. Especially, given the actual refusal of the Armenian authorities to negotiate on behalf of Artsakh. Accordingly, I expect turn the floor over to "the elected authorities of the Artsakh people," he said. Papyan highlighted in the speech of the Russian Foreign Minister the shades that had never been heard in statements from Moscow before. In particular, the mention of the UN Security Council resolutions without mentioning the main culprit of their unfulfillment -Azerbaijan, who refuses to stop the hostilities, as well as links to the Madrid Principles, the Kazan document, and most importantly, including the entire phased package, a document circulated by the parties in April 2019. And all this against the background of the assurances of the Armenian authorities that there are no negotiations, but only meetings.
According to the political scientist, the prospects for such initiatives of Russia entirely depend on its geopolitical bidding with the participation of other actors in the settlement process. According to him, Moscow, for example, may make concessions to the United States in the South Caucasus, Syria and even in the Arctic. "We don't know what is happening in international relations, we are fixated on Artsakh. Meanwhile, relations between Russia and the United States or Europe are by no means limited to the Artsakh issue. Given the fact that 2020 is the election year in the United States and Trump may need assistance in many matters Moscow, I do not exclude the possibility of their agreement on the Artsakh issue, " Papyan emphasized.
The political scientist is convinced of the existence and discussion of the document that Lavrov mentioned. In this light, he assesses Yerevan's response statements , not denying the existence of the document, but denying negotiations on its basis as a play on words. Meanwhile, the Madrid principles, according to Papyan, are a fact, the basis of negotiations. The rest, including the content of Lavrov's statement, is derived from principles.
"There is no clear answer to these statements from our authorities, because they either have to accuse Lavrov of lying, or admit that they are lying. The Russian minister verbatim explained that the Madrid principles remain valid. There is no need to expect much clarification, and until then how we will rely in the settlement of the Artsakh problem on the principle of self-determination of peoples, we will have no other way but to surrender territories, "the political scientist concluded.
On April 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the document adopted in April 2019 at a meeting of the Russian, Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers in Moscow as an important step in implementing the UN Security Council resolution on Karabakh settlement. "These documents imply progress in the settlement on the basis of a phased approach. I believe the first stage is the solution of the most pressing problems, the liberation of a number of areas around Nagorno-Karabakh and the unblocking of transport, economic and other communications," he said.
It should be noted that in response to Lavrov's statement, Armenia's Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan voiced the unacceptability of approaches to its phased resolution for the Armenian parties to the conflict. According to him, after trying to apply such approaches in 2014 and 2016, starting in 2018, negotiations were limited to discussing assessments, approaches of the parties to individual elements .