Serob Marutyan,
Tarasov says in a direct text that, in all probability, there are secret verbal agreements between Pashinyan and Aliyev, about which Russia does not seem to know and is afraid that they may lose the laurel of the “Transcaucasian peacekeeper” with “everything”. It means political, diplomatic, and other dividends.
The meetings and talks between the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, first in Sochi on the initiative and with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, then in Brussels under the auspices of CoE President Charles Michel and finally with the participation of French President Emanuel Macron, are reminiscent of modern series. staging, as noted by Russian analyst Stanislav Tarasov in an article published in “Regnum”. Everything turns into a unique show, where new actors suddenly come out from behind the scenes, and the former ones are placed in the background or in the background. And in the process, the plot lines develop, and everyone becomes a participant in a hidden scenario when the starting events do not determine the course of the development of this story at all.
“You can judge for yourself,” Tarasov continues. “Aliyev and Pashinyan held talks in Brussels in the format of the Eastern Summit.” Before that, the two leaders meet separately with Michelle, who acts as a mediator between the parties. At the same time, as Michelle presented, at some point Pashinyan and Aliyev were left face to face, without the presence of a third person, and that is how they communicated. In the discussions, everything revolved around the painful post-conflict settlement for Armenia, the opening of the road from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, which in Baku is called the Zangezur corridor. Moreover, judging by the sharp debate that took place between Aliyev and Pashinyan during the Sochi summit on this issue, few would have thought that the parties would be able to move quickly in this direction. And suddenly in Brussels, it becomes known that the parties have been able to reach an agreement on this issue and are ready to start the restoration of railway transport in line with the principle of border and customs control, reciprocity.
In addition, it is noted that the EU will provide experts to provide technical assistance to the two countries in the demarcation process. In fact, they were the same formulations that the Russian Foreign Ministry had made public earlier, trying to bring the approaches of Baku and Yerevan closer, but with its participation. Now it seems that Paris is partially taking the initiative. “It is not accidental that during the Aliyev-Pashinyan dialogue, as we read in the Azerbaijani media, French President Emanuel Macron unexpectedly joins.”
The Russian analyst thinks that despite the prevailing mentality that the results of the Brussels and Sochi talks are the same, in reality, they are different. One of the differences is that, with the consent of Baku and Yerevan, Paris joins the process as a co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, and, according to Tarasov, gets a chance to have its place in the Caucasus along with Russia and Turkey as another influential player. what he had previously avoided. Moreover, if previously Macron was betting only on Armenia, now he has expanded the circle and also won the sympathy of the Azerbaijani side. Of course, the game makes sense, because in this way France is able not only to invest in 2020. in the process of implementing the November 9 agreements, but also to confirm its certain modernization in its favor by advancing its mechanisms for the settlement of the conflict at the political-diplomatic level.
The situation is intriguing in the fact that if in the past Baku always saw a conspiracy in favor of Armenia in the Paris operations, now, on the contrary, it has adopted a course of closer relations with France. Probably, Aliyev and Pashinyan agreed on something during the face-to-face meeting, which was not recorded on paper. The Russian analyst notes that if Michel stated that they are ready to provide an advisory platform for demarcation of the border, then the Sochi statement, ratified by the leaders of the three countries, says that the two countries should set up a commission and apply to Moscow for mediation.
Judging by Tarasov’s conclusion, Moscow is worried that it may lose its initiative and has begun to hint that Armenia has always lost to Azerbaijan in the field of secret diplomacy and that Aliyev has a specific goal and is pursuing it, which may to cause serious problems, especially since Vladimir Putin also said that there is no need for a third party for delimitation and demarcation of borders.
Tarasov says in a direct text that, in all probability, there are secret verbal agreements between Pashinyan and Aliyev, about which Russia does not seem to know and is afraid that they may lose the laurel of the “Transcaucasian peacekeeper” with “everything”. It means political, diplomatic and other dividends.