ArmInfo. Visits of the head of the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov to Yerevan and Baku is conditioned by Moscow's desire to implement agreements achieved with its active mediated arrangement and not allow to violate them. As their violation will inflict a significant blow to the image of Russia. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by the head of the Analytical Center for Globalization and Regional Cooperation, political scientist Stepan Grigoryan.
"At the same time, some of the accents set by Lavrov in the course of his Yerevan statements following the results of the meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ara Aivazian, allow us to speak of a certain change in the situation in the settlement of the Artsakh problem. In particular, thanks to the harsh criticism of Azerbaijan in the issue of Armenian prisoners, thanks to the MG's "return", both Moscow and Baku are again forced to reckon with the opinion of Yerevan. All this leads to a change in the winds blowing around this issue, "he said.
According to the political scientist, translated from the diplomatic language, Lavrov's mention of the OSCE MG only in his answers to journalists' questions, but not during his speech at the Yerevan press conference, means that the discussion of the issue of Artsakh's status within the OSCE MG is still not among Moscow's priorities. ... At the same time, Russia has already softened its own rhetoric on this issue, which is already a positive factor.
The political scientist explains such changes by Russia's inability to resist the activation of the OSCE Minsk Group and the return of the United States and France to the region. And, despite Moscow's non- readiness for a political settlement of the Artsakh problem within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, the public part of the communication between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Russia allows us to speak about the absence of any pressure from Moscow on Yerevan on this issue.
"Russia cannot ignore the fact that partly the question of the need to determine the status of Artsakh has already been put into circulation by the United States and France. And the discussion of the status issue is already a fact. However, we need to consistently and persistently seek the resumption of negotiations on the status within the framework of the Minsk Group. Moscow, let's say, not over enthusiastic about this, but after all, the same deblocking of the region cannot be carried out in the conditions of keeping our prisoners in Azerbaijan. And we need to clearly and consistently state this, "Grigoryan summed up.