According to Armen Vardanyan, there will be an opening of the Lachin Corridor, but it will be under the pressure of the international community, more specifically, under the pressure of the West, because it seems that Russia does not pose such a problem.
“It is obvious that Azerbaijan has not agreed with the Russian side regarding the passage of goods through the Aghdam road. Hajiyev also announced the day before that the humanitarian delivery of Russian aid to Stepanakart via Azerbaijan was within the framework of a completely different deal, and there is no agreement regarding the opening of the Lachin corridor,” according to “Aravot” after the transportation of Russian goods on the Akna-Stepanakert road, the Lachin Corridor was never opened. , while there were rumors that these roads would be opened in parallel, this is how political scientist Armen Vardanyan responded.
According to him, there will be an opening of the Lachin Corridor, but it will be under the pressure of the international community, more specifically, the pressure of the West. “The Russian Federation does not seem to put such a problem before itself, or if it does, at least we do not see such impulses that it can pressure Azerbaijan to open the Lachin corridor.” Armen Vardanyan could not specify dates regarding the opening of the Lachin corridor: “But I see that there are already serious criticisms in the West, the issue has already entered the American Congress, and hearings are taking place. I think the pressures in this direction will become stronger. In the end, Azerbaijan will give way.”
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We asked Arman Vardanyan, don’t you think that, as they say, the representatives of the RA ruling power seem to have “washed their hands” of Artsakh, especially since the other day during the parliamentary briefings, when journalists asked about the Aghdam road, the RA government deputies said that the issue It is in the domain of Artsakh authorities, he answered.
“It is a somewhat extreme statement that the government has washed its hands because RA, as a subject of international law, is raising the issue of the Lachine Corridor in the Hague International Court and other international structures. Artsakh is an unrecognized state and does not have such opportunities. That is obvious. But it is also obvious that the RA government does not have such power; maybe it is making calculations and does not consider it expedient to open the road by military means at this stage. Perhaps that is the reason. The fact that RA authorities are making efforts in this direction is unequivocal.”
Armen Vardanyan replied, “Don’t you see a gesture in not congratulating the newly elected President of Artsakh with some kind of message under it?” “Yes, they are gestures, but we don’t know the concrete message. It may be a message that the RA government did not like the change of power in Artsakh; it is also possible that they did not congratulate not to provoke Azerbaijan even more.” We wondered how you would interpret that the RA National Security Service is looking for Wagner members, Armen Vardanyan answered.
“There may be several Wagner fans, but the numbers mentioned by the press are unrealistic. Wagner members can come to Armenia as Russian citizens. It is not written on their foreheads. Of course, the special services may be able to find them due to the exchange of information within the framework of international cooperation, and it is also possible that people who did not stand out and fought with Wagner came to Armenia. In any case, saying they came to Armenia to make a coup is just nonsense.”
For Armen Vardanyan, it is evident that Armenian-Russian relations are experiencing a deep crisis. “The eyes of the Armenian government have finally opened. Even after the 44-day war, Nikol Pashinyan still relied on the Russian Federation in some matters. Immediately after the war, an arms purchase agreement worth several hundred million dollars was signed with the Russian Federation. The RA authorities naively believed the Russian Federation would keep the Lachin Corridor and not hand over the corridor to Azerbaijan. But that didn’t happen either; the weapon is still missing. Apart from that, the Russian Federation repeatedly attacked the RA from behind. It assured the RA government that the international borders of the RA were a red line for Russia, but we saw that the Azerbaijanis invaded the RA or bombed the internationally recognized territories of the RA, and there is no reaction from the Russian side.
The RA authorities are already forced to demarche in some issues because the Russian Federation has no desire to protect Armenia in security matters and has repeatedly struck Armenia from behind. The Russian authorities even recently assured the highest level of the RA government that they will keep the Lachin Corridor and not hand it over to Azerbaijan so the mutual connection between RA and Artsakh will not be disrupted. But we see that every time they strike a new blow from behind, and the RA authorities make demonstrative demarches, and in some cases, RA also takes active steps to diversify its security policy.”
The political scientist answered the question: is it not risky to change the foreign political vector of RA in this situation? “There is no drastic change in the external political vector for now. It is not the case that RA is suddenly making a 180-degree turn in its foreign policy. The Russians know this very well, but there are steps to diversify foreign policy and security policy, which I welcome.” Armen Vardanyan replied to our assertion that Peskov stated that Russia is considering several settlement options between Baku and Yerevan. “It is possible that the Russian Federation is doing this to save face.
However, it is trying to take some steps because the Armenian public has wholly discredited it. I am sure Armenia’s demonstrative démarches towards Russia also worry the Kremlin. Maybe he is taking some steps to save his face. Time will tell how serious their actions are. It is possible that they are demonstrative and will not put any severe pressure on Azerbaijan. But in any case, yes, we should note that the Russian Federation should not have allowed the Lachin Corridor to pass under the control of Azerbaijan. It was clearly stated in the document of November 9 that it should be under the control of Russian peacekeepers, and they do not respect the document of November 9 imposed by them.
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