ArmInfo. I do not share at all the expectations that have developed within the journalistic and expert community from the meeting of the Presidents of Russia and the United States, Putin and Biden, scheduled for June 16. Director of the Caucasus Institute Alexander Iskandaryan expressed a similar opinion to ArmInfo.
"It is necessary to take into account the presence of a certain dynamics in relations between Russia and Turkey, between the United States and Iran. Therefore, I do not think that from this meeting one should expect serious changes in the policy of the United States and Russia in the South Caucasus, especially in their joint actions in our region. The Biden-Putin meeting can only cause some minor changes in the South Caucasus, taking into account these dynamics, "he stressed.
According to the political scientist, the main problem for the United States today, as well as yesterday, is not Russia, but China, however, only globally, and not specifically in the South Caucasus, primarily due to significant differences between the South Caucasus and, for example, Central Asia, where dependence on China is growing exponentially. In the South Caucasus, the growth of China's economic influence, in Iskandaryan's opinion, also exists, but it does not differ much from the growth of the Chinese presence in almost all regions of the world.
In this light, the political scientist at the moment does not see Beijing's special focus on the South Caucasus. And the existing build-up of Chinese influence and presence, in his opinion, is a derivative of the general trend of the transformation of the PRC from a regional power into a global one. And this transformation, according to his forecasts, will be long lasting, moreover, both in the South Caucasus and in other regions of the world.
"I have repeatedly spoken about this, including with you. I will say now - in the case of the South Caucasus specifically, the general situation, general background, general trends are primarily determined not by the United States or China. For better or worse, but all this is determined by the growing influence of Turkey.
This is the case, and we all see this. And the latter is a derivative of the global process of extinction of the monopolar system of world governance against the background of the absence of a bipolar system. All this leads to a natural increase in the importance of the so-called middle-level states. In the case of the South Caucasus, it can be said conditionally that the geopolitics in this region is determined not by the United States or China. Basically, it is still determined by Turkey," the political scientist summed up