Opinion: With Russian MFA`s July 15 statement, Moscow disclaims  responsibility for Armenia`s territorial concessions

ArmInfo.. Russia in fact disclaims responsibility for Armenia's territorial concessions. This  is how Ph.D in History, Leading Researcher of the Euro-Atlantic Security Center at the MGIMO Institute, RIAC Expert Sergey Markedonov, commented on the Saturday statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the situation around Artsakh.

He stated that the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of  the Russian Federation "in connection with the situation around  Nagorno-Karabakh" was made on July 15, and this date is not  accidental. "To this day, the meeting of Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham  Aliyev was postponed through the mediation of Charles Michel (the  so-called Brussels format). However, on the eve of the summit, Armen  Grigoryan, the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, gave a  detailed (actually) programmatic interview on the  Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement for Voice of America. Moscow decided  to break the pause and publicly state its vision," the Russian expert  noted, outlining the most important three theses from this statement.

"Firstly, Russia in fact disclaims responsibility for Armenia's  territorial concessions. This is where the Foreign Ministry's  statement begins: "In the summits held under the auspices of the  European Union in October 2022 and May 2023, Armenia recognized  Nagorno-Karabakh as part of  the territory of Azerbaijan. We respect  the sovereign decision of the Armenian leadership: "That is, it is  they who bear the responsibility, first of all, if translated from  diplomatic into Russian. At the same time, Moscow considers Yerevan's  consent to be a radical change in the foundations on which the  Putin-Aliyev -Pashinyan statement dated November 9, 2020 was based,  that is, the initial status quo that have followed immediately after  the end of the second Karabakh war," the political scientist  believes.

Secondly, Markedonov continued, under the given conditions, Russia  proposes to focus on one private and one general problem. "The  private  one is the restoration of the normal life of  Nagorno-Karabakh. "Without any status complications, pure"  humanitarian aid. "The general  one is the harmonization of a peace  treaty between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Moscow is well aware that any  peace (in general, any paper) in the Caucasus without its  participation - a powerful blow to its efforts, image, reputation.  And, of course, it is better to avoid it, "the expert believes.   According to him, today it is too late to discuss what was done wrong  and who is to blame, it is necessary to save the situation. "Until  the point of no return is passed, you can seize the initiative. The  West will still not thank Russia for all its actions in the spectrum  from the Agreement of May 12, 1994 to the Trilateral Statements (not  only on November 9, 2020, but also those that were signed in 2021  -2022). The US and the EU have a different goal: to take advantage of  Russia's tie-up in Ukraine, queeze it in the Transcaucasus, the  Dniester, and then everywhere," Markedonov believes.

But, as a third thesis, Markedonov pointed to one more issuen, and it  is that for both Baku and Yerevan, much in the dense text of the  Foreign Ministry's statement is in fact unacceptable.

"Azerbaijan is in a hurry to close the Karabakh gestalt completely  and, preferably, without any special concessions and nuances.  Armenia, having no resources to fight "for Artsakh", would like to  shift the responsibility to Russia (see Grigoryan's interview for  more details). Challenging environment. And therefore Moscow's  intentions look like a desperate attempt to make up for lost time.  There are chances of accomplishing this task. For now, there are!",  he summed up.

Earlier, as ArmInfo already reported, on July 15, the Russian Foreign  Ministry issued a statement in which it accused Yerevan of deviating  from the essence of trilateral agreements and called on Baku to  unblock the only road connecting Artsakh with Armenia and the outside  world. At the same time, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced its  readiness to organize a trilateral meeting of foreign ministers in  Moscow in the near future to discuss ways to implement agreements at  the highest level, including the topic of agreeing on a peace treaty,  followed by the Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian summit in Moscow to sign  the said document.