Azerbaijan, Armenia need peaceful, stablwe Georgia - Russian expert 

ArmInfo. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia need a peaceful and stable Georgia. This is how Russian political scientist Sergei Markedonov commented on the presidential elections in Georgia and the reaction of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to them. 

According to him, the recent presidential elections in Georgia, which  were held in a non-universal voting format, in the work of the  Electoral College, provided experts with rich food for thought. The  expert noted that many authors in Russia tend to be critical of  states that are trying to "walk between the streams" on the world  stage, without making a clear geopolitical choice. However, according  to Markedonov, a significant (if not overwhelming) part of states,  especially small and medium ones, are striving for balancing,  preferring the format of "fellow travelers".

"It is noteworthy that among the first leaders of states and  governments to congratulate the newly elected President Mikheil  Kavelashvili were Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Two leaders who still cannot fully  agree on the text of the peace agreement (only 15 of 17 points +  preamble have been agreed upon so far, there are still discrepancies  in the Armenian Constitution).  Why did the Georgian factor unite the  leaders of two neighboring states that can hardly be called friendly?   The answer is more or less obvious. Both Azerbaijan and Armenia need  a peaceful and stable Georgia," the Russian political scientist  believes. 

Markedonov is sure that for the Baku leadership, the factors of  Georgian democracy are not important, for the Yerevan leadership,  they probably have general theoretical significance, but a  predictable neighbor is much more important, because 75% of Armenia's  exports and imports go through the Georgian border, one of the two  "windows" for the republic to the outside world.

"There are also Azerbaijani (Kvemo Kartli) and Armenian (Javakheti)  communities in Georgia, and their well-being is also important for  Baku and Yerevan. But if it happens that tomorrow Tbilisi suddenly  decides that Kavelashvili is not legitimate and everything needs to  be "like in grandma's time," Aliyev and Pashinyan will recognize the  "will of the Georgian people." Because pragmatism and good  neighborliness - again in a pragmatic vein - are more important to  them," the expert noted. 

At the same time, Markedonov noted that today there is a lot of talk  about polycentrism as an ideal world order. However, according to  him, in the Caucasus it is already being implemented in many ways.

"Georgia is distancing itself from the West (but cautiously and  selectively), and Armenia from Russia (less cautiously and less  selectively), but they are ready to interact with each other. By the  way, even at the peak of its Euro-Atlantic agenda, Tbilisi signed a  Free Trade Agreement with China, and Armenia, promoting Eurasian  formats, did not forget about "complementarism". Azerbaijan's foreign  policy was called a "swing policy" for many years. Thus,  congratulations to the newly elected Georgian president from  neighbors reflect this trend," the political scientist is sure. 

Markedonov noted that the countries of the region prefer to go "their  own way", whose configuration does not always fit into the great  powers' ideas about beauty. "By the way, Kavelashvili has already  received his first invitation to a foreign visit from Serbian  President Aleksandar Vucic. You may ask, what does Belgrade have to  do with it? In the spring of 2023, after the vote in the Council of  Europe on the Kosovo issue, Vucic named Georgia among Serbia's "best  friends". Why? Because Tbilisi consistently advocates non-recognition  of the independence of the former Serbian autonomous region. Symbols  and rituals matter," the Russian political scientist summed up.