Analyst: Karabakh and Ukraine are joint by Turkey

ArmInfo. By the example of the aggravation of the situation in the south-east of Ukraine, we can clearly see the impact of last year's war over Karabakh on the  leaders in Kiev. A similar opinion was expressed by Sergey  Markedonov, a leading researcher at the Center for Euro-Atlantic  Security at the MGIMO Institute for International Studies, and  editor-in-chief of the journal "International Analytics".

"It is clear that the unfreezing of the conflict, the scrapping of  the Karabakh status quo creates a temptation for many in Ukraine in  favor of tougher actions. However, even in the absence of an  escalation even remotely reminiscent of last year, Moscow has once  again voiced its readiness to respond to a possible violation of the  "red lines"by Kiev. So in this case, the consequences may be  completely different, " he said.

Meanwhile, unlike the situation around the Donbass, in the situation  around Karabakh, Moscow has never voiced its readiness to support one  of the parties to the conflict. In last year's confrontation, Russia,  according to Markedonov, was limited to the role of a balancer  between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. In addition, he considers it  necessary to add a huge difference in weight between Armenia and  Russia as the patron states of de facto entities.

In this light, there are many differences between the Karabakh and  Ukrainian stories, according to Markedonov. But there is also one  thing in common - they are united by Turkey. And even more precisely,  Ankara's desire to increase its own influence in both conflict  regions. The only difference is that while Turkey did it in Karabakh  by demonstrating its own military and diplomatic power, in the case  of Ukraine, Ankara has so far shown itself by sharply intensifying  military-technical cooperation with Kiev.

Another direction of Turkish activity in the Ukrainian direction, the  analyst considers the increase in political cooperation between  Ankara and Kiev. In this light, he recalled that with the election of  Vladimir Zelensky as head of state, he met with Erdogan as many as  four times. And almost all mutual visits were accompanied by the  signing of framework agreements and memoranda on the development of  the military-technical cooperation. And on the example of the  appearance of new Turkish "bayraktars" in the Armed Forces of  Ukraine, we can also talk about the practical implementation of these  documents and agreements.  "So Ukraine has been talking about another  strengthening of Turkey in the post-Soviet space for the last few  months. And here it is extremely important to note the European  vector of this strengthening, since earlier Ankara preferred to  strengthen its influence in the Asian, Caspian direction of the  post-Soviet space. On the example of Ukraine and through interference  in the affairs of Ukraine, we see an attempt by Turkey to enter not  only the European part of the post-Soviet space, but also Europe and  European politics in general. And it is important to state and fix  it, " Markedonov concluded.