Political scientist: The outcome of the war is still decided at the  front, and not in the USA, Russia or France

ArmInfo. The outcome of the war is still decided at the front, not in the United States, Russia or France. Despite the recent mediation efforts of the Trump  administration, this assertion, unfortunately, still remains valid. A  similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by the director of the  Caucasus Institute, a member of the Valdai club Alexander  Iskandaryan.

On October 24, Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan Zohrab  Mnatsakanyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, at a meeting with US Deputy  Secretary of State Stephen Bigan, "reaffirmed their commitment to the  implementation of the ceasefire agreement for humanitarian purposes."  On October 25, the State Department announced the return of the  parties to the conflict to a ceasefire at 08:00 on October 26. This  is already the third initiative on a ceasefire for humanitarian  purposes, however, according to the Artsakh Defense Army, Azerbaijan  has already violated this ceasefire.

Commenting on the Valdai speech of Russian President Putin, the  political scientist highlighted Moscow's intention to continue making  efforts towards achieving a settlement of the current situation  around Artsakh and, more broadly, a settlement of the conflict. At  the same time, according to his forecasts, one should not expect an  unambiguous turn of Russia in one direction or another of the  conflict. Emphasizing the direct discrepancy between the continuation  of the war in Artsakh and Russia's interests, Iskandaryan noted the  discrepancy in this issue between Moscow and Ankara.

Speaking on October 22 at the Valdai Discussion Club, Russian  President Vladimir Putin presented in great detail the main  priorities and position of Russia in the current war between Armenia  and Azerbaijan. He also commented on the current level of relations  with Turkey, describing very flatteringly its President Erdogan. On  the whole, the speech of the Russian president was of an emphatically  neutral character.  "Thus, the geopolitical situation around the  conflict remains rather complicated. And we can already state that  political means: statements, calls and attempts at an armistice are  not enough to end the war. And Russia will not take direct part in  this war. In this light, one can only hope that sooner or later the  war will still be stopped by purely political tools. We see that this  toolbox is still not exhausted, "Iskandaryan summed up.