Monday, March 21 2022 14:18

ArmInfo. On the whole, Armenia's appeal to the OSCE Minsk Group does not contradict the interests of the Russian Federation. A similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by chief researcher of the Institute of World Economy and International  Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, orientalist Alexey  Malashenko.

In response to Azerbaijan's proposals published on March 14, the  Armenian Foreign Ministry stated that, proceeding from the UN  Charter, the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights and  the Helsinki Final Act, in order to organize negotiations between  Armenia and Azerbaijan on concluding a peace treaty, Armenia turned  to the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.

"I think that the Russian Federation should have a normal attitude to  this step of Armenia. And the absence of a negative reaction at the  level of official Moscow speaks precisely of such a position. I think  that one of the reasons for this position is the desire of the  Russian Federation to maintain this albeit very unique platform of  diplomatic contacts with the West. In the current geopolitical  realities conditioned by Ukraine, this, of course, has become much  more difficult, but by no means impossible," he said.

Against this background, Malashenko sees Moscow's desire to preserve  the possibility of restoring the participation of the United States  and France in the settlement of problems between Armenia and  Azerbaijan. Even after confirming its own monopoly role in this  process following the results of the 44-day war. And he also sees a  tacit agreement between Moscow and Yerevan in this issue.  Malashenko  considers Moscow's awareness of the need for a certain amount of time  to fully restore the format of the co-chairmanship of the Minsk Group  an important circumstance in favor of such a position of the Russian  Federation, if, of course, this happens at all. In any case, the  orientalist is convinced that this prospect does not contradict the  interests of the Russian Federation in any way, especially against  the background of the possible stabilization of the region as a  result of the restoration of the Minsk format, which will allow  Moscow to somewhat ease its own military-political workload.

"And of course, we should not forget about the main obstacles on this  path. This is Baku's refusal to consider the issue of the Karabakh  status both within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group format, and,  in fact, in any other format.  In any case, regardless of the success  of the actions of the United States and France, I believe that Moscow  is ready, and not only in words, to implement almost any scenario in  the South Caucasus, especially considering that the Russian  Federation itself is a Minsk Group co-chair country. Accordingly, it  can and will participate in any, including number of hypothetical  negotiations with the participation of the other co- chairs of the  Minsk Group," Malashenko summed up