Monday, April 12 2021 13:55

ArmInfo.By cooperating with Turkey on several fronts in parallel, Russia is trying to avoid creating new problems for itself. Such opinion was expressed by the  editor-in-chief of the magazine "Russia in Global Politics", chairman  of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy Fyodor  Lukyanov.

"We see that the war in Karabakh last autumn naturally changed quite  a lot. And, as, in fact, in the warring countries, and in the region  as a whole. And against the background of the rather turbulent  situation in the Donbas, it is extremely important for Moscow to  preserve peace in the Karabakh conflict zone and in the South  Caucasus as a whole. It is important to solve problems by political  means, since going beyond it is an extremely undesirable scenario for  us, " he stressed.

In the light of the large-scale agenda for discussions between  Armenia and Russia that emerged after the war, Lukyanov considers the  recent visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Moscow  and, in general, the discussions in the format of mutual visits of  the two leaders as extremely important. In his opinion, the expected  holding of early elections in Armenia against the background of many  rough spots in the internal political field of the republic gives  additional intrigue to Pashinyan's Moscow voyage.

In this light, the meeting, according to the analyst, was of mutual  interest to the interlocutors. And if Moscow is interested in probing  the internal political and electoral moods in Armenia, it is  important for the Armenian authorities to understand the attitude of  Russia to these moods. According to Lukyanov, this attitude will  remain within the framework of strict respect for the sovereignty and  non-interference in the internal affairs of Armenia.

In general, the deepening of the Armenian-Russian relations, in his  opinion, continues to be part of the negotiating agenda. First of  all, due to the unconditional presence of mutual interest in this.   And in this light, and in this direction, there are many issues to be  discussed first in a bilateral, and then in a multilateral format.

"We understand that the main issue and topic for Russia among many  issues and topics is the de-blocking of communications. It is around  this issue that the most difficult negotiations are going on today,  which led to the need for the visit of our Deputy Prime Minister  Alexey Overchuk to Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is important to ensure  the security of Armenia. It is important to fulfill Moscow's  obligations in this direction by strengthening its military presence  in the republic. There are many economic and political issues, as  well as the issue of the Armenian prisoners. All this had to be  discussed in order to reach mutually acceptable solutions, " Lukyanov  concluded.

On April 7, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Russian  President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During the nearly 4-hour talks,  the interlocutors discussed the restoration of trade and economic  ties and transport communications, the normalization of the situation  in Artsakh with the help of peacekeepers, and the prospects for  cooperation in integration associations in the Eurasian space.