Maintaining status quo in Artsakh not to improve Armenia`s positions  - Stepan Grigoryan

ArmInfo. Maintaining the status quo in Artsakh and in relations with Azerbaijan will not improve Armenia's positions. Therefore, it is not in Armenia's interests, the  political scientist Stepan Grigoryan said in an interview with  ArmInfo. 

"I myself have for many years been for the status quo maintained  since 1994 - until the 44-day war.  However, the status quo was to a  great extent maintained due to an entirely different geopolitical  situation.  The most important factor was later transformation of  Russia's position," Mr Grigoryan said.  

According to him, in the 1990s Moscow's position on the status quo  was by and large in line with the Armenian side's interests, and that  position remained unchanged during thee first years of Vladimir  Putin's presidency. However, rapid changes were noticed in 2011 and  2012, and after the so-called Lavrov plan was circulated it came to  be in obvert conflict with the interests of Armenia and Artsakh. 

As regards the parliamentary opposition's calls against any  agreements with Azerbaijan amid the present geopolitical reality, Mr  Grigoryan questions the political advisability of this tactics given,  first of all, Moscow's present-day position. It is Moscow that doe  not allow the Armenian side to temporize. 

It is due to the West's efforts that Azerbaijan is being contained,  and evidence thereof is U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's  direct and outspoken criticism against Baku for escalating the  situation. However, prolonging the process will be seriously  complicated because of the absence of common approaches between  Yerevan and Moscow. 

"It is clear that the opposition forces prefer keeping silent about  it. Moreover, they are afraid of speaking of Russia's real position  on Artsakh now. It is not the opposition forces' concept, but their  insincerity. But the reality is that temporizing can only be possible  if Russia's position were at least neutral. It is Russia's not being  neutral that turns this prospect into idle talks," Mr Grigoryan said.