ArmInfo.It should be noted that the clashes on November 16 were preceded by information about the Putin-Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting. And, judging by the insider information, it can be stated that the Armenian Prime Minister rejected it at the very last moment.
Russian expert on the South Caucasus Andrei Areshev told ArmInfo similar. "As far as I can judge, today Mr. Pashinyan only cares about the preservation of power at any cost. For which he needs, if possible, to throw the responsibility for unpopular, unfavorable decisions for Armenia from his own person to others. In the case of Artsakh, he solved this problem through many victims aim to present himself as the savior of the nation. And now that he has succeeded, he and his team are working according to a similar scheme in Syunik, "he stressed.
The expert believes that the most acceptable way to resolve the current situation is to reach an agreement on the delimitation and demarcation of the border. According to Areshev's forecasts, the longer Yerevan drags out the signing of an agreement on this issue, the more aggravated the situation will be. Attempts to shift responsibility for what is happening on the border onto Russia, as well as Armenia's written appeals to Russia with the aim of providing military assistance against Azerbaijan, he characterizes as futile.
According to Areshev, Moscow is already rendering assistance to Yerevan to the maximum of its own capabilities. And in light of the potential intention of Baku, supported by Ankara, to point out the issue of the expediency of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, a large-scale escalation with Azerbaijan is absolutely not part of Russia's intentions. Not excluding the fact that someone in Yerevan has plans in the direction of Russia's withdrawal from the South Caucasus as a result of reformatting the geopolitical map of the region, the expert noted that such plans in no way proceed from the interests of the Armenian people and the state.
"For all its obvious shortcomings, the previous authorities of Armenia, one way or another, defended the interests of the state, without bringing the matter to the point that the borders of Armenia with Azerbaijan would be forced to be guarded by Russian border guards. In this light, there are some questions to Yerevan, since Baku in the current situation imposes conditions on Armenia, taking advantage of the incapacity and weakness of its current government. And the only restraining factor is Russia. The situation continues to change not in favor of Armenia, which is due to the consequences of its loss in the 44-day war and the strengthening of Turkey in the region. Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh support a new status quo in the medium term. Whether they will do this in the long term, taking into account the distance between Yerevan and the fate of Karabakh, depends entirely on the agreements between Moscow and Baku, "he stressed.
In conclusion, Areshev mentioned another flaw of the Armenian leadership - the lack of a clear position on the Zangezur corridor, as a result of which Moscow is also forced to deal with the issues of communications in the South Caucasus. At the same time, in his opinion, this topic is artificially inflated by the efforts of Baku and Ankara, who benefit from this corridor. At the same time, Moscow and Tehran absolutely do not need this corridor. However, against the background of Baku's repeated intentions to establish its own border-customs control in Lachin, if the issue of the corridor through Syunik is delayed, according to the expert, taking into account Yerevan's inability, Moscow will have to coordinate the issue with Baku as well.