Orientalist: Moscow seeks to fully implement all agreements with  Yerevan and Baku without exception

ArmInfo. The statements from Yerevan about the need to deepen military-political allied relations with Russia are by no means new. And Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol  Pashinyan himself voiced them several times. A similar opinion was  expressed to ArmInfo by Alexander Skakov, Deputy Director of the  Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.  

It should be noted that after the defeat of Armenia in the 44-day war  and the signing on November 9 of a trilateral declaration of truce  between the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister  Pashinyan has voiced similar statements both in Armenia and outside  Armenia several times.  "It should be noted that unlike the defense  of Nagorno-Karabakh, Russia is obliged to defend Armenia.  This is  evidenced by the content of our existing bilateral agreements. The  military alliance between Russia and Armenia exists and this is  clearly regulated by the existing legal framework. The exception is  the Russian peacekeeping operation in Karabakh. It is simply  necessary to save the lives of the population.  Although it must be  admitted that in addition to the humanitarian component, there are  also geopolitical considerations, "he stressed.

In this light, the Russian orientalist motivates the latest  pro-Russian statements of the Armenian prime minister by the need of  Moscow's support in the upcoming electoral processes in Armenia. At  the very least, the absence of obstacles in his path from the Russian  leadership and gaining the trust of the Kremlin as a reliable  partner. At the same time, Skakov assesses Pashinyan's position  within Armenia itself as rather weak. And his power, according to the  Russian orientalist, is retained only due to the lack of forces  capable of seriously competing with him.

In this context, Skakov highlighted the planned visit of the head of  Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov to Yerevan and Baku. In his opinion,  a number of new circumstances have been added to the existing  circumstances in favor of this visit after the last year's war.  According to the orientalist, Lavrov, who was at the origin of the  formation of the trilateral November and January statements, intends  to consistently monitor their implementation. "It is clear that the  internal political processes in Armenia significantly hinder the  diplomatic activity of Yerevan, and this is not in the interests of  Moscow, which strives for the full implementation of all the  agreements reached without exception," he stressed.

"All this concerns both the Zangezur corridor and the implementation  of the Russian peacekeeping mission, and the return of Armenian  prisoners to their homeland from Azerbaijan. It is also clear that it  is important for Moscow to maintain control over the processes in the  region in the light of the activation of the Caucasian direction of  the Biden administration's policy. It also should be stressed that  Moscow by no means opposes the restoration of the full-fledged work  of the Minsk OSCE, being more than ever interested in preventing a  new escalation of the situation, "Skakov summed up.