The USA doesn’t Observe Karabakh as a Space for Confrontation with Russia: Sergey Markedonov
“The four-day tension in Karabakh didn’t have political implications,” Sergey Markedonov, Director of the Department for Problems of Ethnic Relations at the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Moscow, PhD in Historical Sciences, columnist, politician, expert of Russian Council on Foreign Affairs, told at discussion on “Lessons from Karabakh four-day war.” He stated that a serious tension has been recorded on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, however, the political issues of utmost importance haven’t been touched upon; this refers issues of Karabakh’s status.
In his words, present-day conflict didn’t lead to changes, NKR was maintained as NKR, its recognition wasn’t recorded, Minsk Group was maintained, Co-chairs appeared with a press conference, Madrid updated principles have been maintained as well, i.e. these military operations didn’t have political implications and radical changes in the settlement process didn’t occur.
“An attempt is made to change the current status-quo. However we can’t say that a new status has been established on the conflict zone. Who benefitted from this? It’s needless observing some secret documents and extraordinary facts to understand what has happened and why. The status quo was inadmissible for Baku, this has been repeatedly stated, and still there was a chance for military settlement and an alternative to fail the political process. Political settlement is more beneficial for Armenia, it’s in favor of the country, as time works for Armenia. Although there are some other issues: economic development, impossibility to enter an external world, regression, migration,” Markedonov said. Speaking of the USA’s role in Karabakh, Markedonov stated that NK hasn’t been a space for confrontation for the USA, like Abkhazia and Donbass. “It provides the opportunity to Russia for more diplomatic participation in the settlement process, as here Russia won’t face a confrontation with the USA,” Markedonov said.
By Araks Martirosyan
