Tuesday, October 12 2021 13:59

ArmInfo.In Moscow, Putin and Pashinyan, apparently, will discuss the development of two trilateral formats with the participation of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.  A  similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by Head of Armenian  Institute of International and Security Affairs (AIISA) Stepan  (Styopa) Safaryan.

Today, on October 12, Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will  visit Moscow. According to the Kremlin press service, at a meeting  with Vladimir Putin, Pashinyan will discuss the implementation of the  statements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan on  Nagorno-Karabakh. Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Alen Simonyan  visited Moscow before Pashinyan. Almost parallel to the Pashinyan-  Putin meeting, Moscow will host a meeting between Patriarch of Moscow  and All Russia Kirill, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and  Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board Allahshukur Hummat Pashazade   Sheikh ul-Islam.

"Russian peacekeeping in Artsakh is one of such formats on Moscow's  agenda. The recent murder of a Martakert resident by an Azerbaijani  sniper's bullet is a serious call to Moscow. In recent months, Baku  has been trying to blackmail Russian peacekeepers and close the  Artsakh issue. And the Russian Federation, which does not have the  signed mandate of peacekeepers to stay in Artsakh, needs to resolve  this issue. It is important to note that it is not Putin who speaks  about this, but Pashinyan. Thus, Moscow reminds Baku of the mandate  through Yerevan, "he said.

The second issue on the Pashinyan-Putin agenda, according to the  analyst, is the implementation of processes for the unblocking of  regional communications within the framework of the trilateral  statement of January 11, 2021. Noting the forthcoming visit of the  Indian Foreign Minister to Yerevan and a number of visits outside  Armenia, Safaryan stressed their interconnection with communication  projects in the South Caucasus. In his opinion, as of today Armenia  is seen as an important, strategic link in a major communication  path. And Moscow cannot ignore this fact in any way.

At the same time, the analyst sees no contradictions between the  "Russian plan" for the South Caucasus and the conditional  communication project Japan - China - India - Iran - Armenia -  Georgia - Black Sea - Mediterranean Sea. "The project, of course,  makes it possible to gain access to Europe. However, in parallel, it  contains access to the Russian Federation itself, which makes it its  next beneficiary. Noting the "3 + 3" format mentioned recently by  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as an opportunity for a  balancer in the game between Moscow and the West, Safaryan emphasized  the parallel use of "3 + 3" by Moscow to pacify Ankara and  demonstrate to the Turks that they are still in the game.

"In the end, having activated this complex scheme in the South  Caucasus last year, Moscow undoubtedly achieved grouping all the  others around itself. And if the Russian Federation sought to involve  more countries in these processes, the November 9 statement of last  year would have been signed by a much larger number of countries, not  just the Russian Federation, Armenia or Azerbaijan. Thus, outside the  format of "3", there is simply no other format of '3', which clearly  speaks of the interests, respectively, the real actions of Russia,"  Safaryan concluded.