Yesterday Russian politician, Candidate of Historical Sciences Andranik Mihranyan spoke on the settlement of the Artsakh conflict.
According to Mihranyan, it is clear that the interests of Russia are understandable in the region: “Some think that the key to the South Caucasus is in Tbilisi, and some think that it is in Baku, And I will not stop repeating that, given all the objective conditions, that the key at least for the RF is in Yerevan. If there is a tragic settlement and we lose Karabakh, Russia will then automatically lose the entire South Caucasus, because it will lose Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Russian factor will no longer be interesting to anyone, at least it will not be as exciting as now”.
In response to the question, whether he does not think that Russia uses double standards in the Karabakh issue, taking into consideration the Crimean issue, Andranik Mihranyan said, that Russia would like to settle the Karabakh issue, but for its own benefit: “Russia would like to preserve its position in Azerbaijan without harming the Armenian-Russian relations. Russia is facing such a diplomatic task. This is not easy to implement, but Moscow is trying to move in both directions to avoid big losses”. And on the Crimean issue politicians always bring details and try to prove that the situation was different there.
Touching upon the sale of Russian arms to Azerbaijan, Mihranyan underlined that it really caused serious concerns, the balance in the region is being violated and it should be settled. To the reporters’ remark, that the Russian side always states that selling weapons to Azerbaijan retains balance in the region, but when your strategic partner is involved in the conflict, and you provide a balance, it turns out that you do not allow your strategic partner to take advantage of the opponent, asked, whether the Russian side has explanation on this aspect, Andranik Mihranyan said, “The Russian position is not so. They mention another argument. Putin, Lavrov, Rogozin and everyone say that the global arms market is such that if we do not sell weapon, others will sell. So, better us, than others, because this way we know what weapons they possess. Then it will be possible to take some steps in the interests of our strategic partner. They do not sell for the sake of balance, but for their profit. Rogozin had such a formulation, for example, you might have heard”.
Mihranyan noted that even if France, the US do not give weapons to Azerbaijan, no one will forbid the latter to buy from Turkey, from Pakistan.
Taking into account the position of the Russian side, the journalists asked: it turns out that Russia is sitting on two chairs – how proper is that? Andranik Mihranyan answered, “In politics, many are sitting not on two but three or four chairs. If you do not fall, you can try to sit on many chairs”.
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
