“There is a serious shift in the mediation mission, that is, it is moving smoothly from Russia to the West. On the other hand, I do not see any rejection of the OSCE Minsk Group,” the chair of the Free Citizen NGO Hovsep Khurshudyan said, referring to the announcement of the results of the Nikol Pashinyan-Ilham Aliyev meeting in Brussels during an online discussion at the Article 3 Press Club.
“There is a suspension of the Minsk Group functions due to the fact that Russia and the West are now in a serious conflict. No matter how much Russia wants (and it is in its interests) to have such a platform, the West is not ready for it. The situation should not be left in the air, especially since Azerbaijan regularly goes to military provocations, so the West has decided to temporarily suspend the Minsk Group, handing over the negotiating leadership to the European Union, which is backed by the United States,” he said.
He is sure that the Minsk Group format will be maintained. “We have a task to gain time now. The West understands that serious progress is not possible now, but it must be frozen so that Azerbaijan does not go to new provocations. I think it succeeds. The return of the Minsk Group will be when the regime in Russia changes. It is in the plans of the West. I can not say when it will be, but it will be. But even the new Russia will not have leadership in this issue. The mediation process is completely taken over by the West. Azerbaijan is in a hurry to resolve the issue.”
Khurshudyan thinks that if the RA-Azerbaijan demarcation-delimitation process passes into the hands of the European Union, it is beneficial for us․ “The component of international law is increasing, which we need. I urge the authorities not to focus too much on the issue that the RA-Azerbaijan border is the border that existed during the USSR, because from the point of view of international law, that border is useless. In the case of demarcation, the maps are secondary, the legal basis is possible. The process itself can not be a way to refrain from Azerbaijani provocations. On the contrary, it can even stimulate it, depending on the geopolitical priority. In case of Russia’s domination, it allowed Azerbaijan to occupy new territories.”
Read also
Luiza Sukiasyan
