Diplomat: The Russian leadership "fantastically" used the opportunity  presented to strengthen its positions in the region

ArmInfo. The Armenian-Azerbaijani military conflict marked the defeat of  international law, multilateralism and attempts to resolve conflicts  by diplomatic means.

This was stated by the former OSCE Special  Representative for the South Caucasus Gunter Bechler (Switzerland)  during an online discussion organized by the German Society for the  Study of Eastern Europe, DW reports.  The Russian leadership, in  turn, as Bechler put it, "fantastically" used the opportunity that  presented itself to strengthen their positions in the region, and as  a result, both sides of the conflict got what they least wanted - the  peacekeeping troops of Russia.

In turn, the EU, in the opinion of the Swiss diplomat, risks once  again "losing" the South Caucasus. In Armenia, he pointed out, after  the defeat in the war for Karabakh, the "democratic experiment" of  the Pashinyan government, which came to power as a result of peaceful  protests in 2018, was under attack.  At the same time, Georgia is  experiencing another internal political aggravation after the  parliamentary elections, which were held on October 31. As for  Azerbaijan, according to Behler, an authoritarian regime has already  been established. The former OSCE Special Representative in the  region believes that, unlike Russia, neither the EU nor the United  States is ready to play a more prominent role in the region.

Bechler admitted that during his work as OSCE special envoy in  2016-2018, "I could not even imagine" that it would come to  hostilities. He is confident that this "completely unnecessary war"  could have been avoided if the negotiation process remained within  the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.  Gunther Bechler noted the  extreme importance of a ceasefire and the deployment of Russian  peacekeepers along the line of contact in Karabakh. At the same time,  he drew attention to the fact that the issue of legitimizing the  deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region from the point of  view of international law is open - it is unclear, for example,  whether a UN Security Council resolution or an OSCE resolution on  sending a Russian peacekeeping contingent to the conflict zone will  be adopted.

Also open is the question of whether the work on the discussion  future status of Nagorno-Karabakh within the framework of the OSCE  Minsk Group. How the diplomat put it, the fighting stopped, but there  were open questions more than there were before the war. At first a  low-key reaction Russian authorities in the fighting in Karabakh  Behler regarded as part of the intent aimed at exacerbating the  situation to such an extent that would allow the "strong neighbor" to  intervene in the conflict and impose his will on both sides.  The  Swiss diplomat has no doubts that the ceasefire agreement signed on  the night of November 10 will have far-reaching consequences not only  for Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also for Turkey, including because of  the transport corridor between Nakhichevan and Azerbaijan, which was  agreed by the parties.  will allow Turkish exporters to send their  goods to China by a shorter route, bypassing Georgia.