Russian expert: Moscow is forced to act by the incapacity of the  Armenian authorities

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.