Russian Expert on Moscow's Interests at Trilateral Meeting

Baku/11.01.21/Turan: Moscow wants to have time to achieve some results on the Karabakh settlement before the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20, in order to independently resolve this issue and prevent the intervention of the United States and France. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Radio Svoboda by the well-known Russian journalist and analyst Arkady Dubnov.

He acknowledged that Russia is concerned that Azerbaijan has not signed the document on the mandate of the peacekeepers, unlike Armenia. “Baku would like to get full control over all points of entry into Nagorno-Karabakh, including from the side of Armenia, as well as complete disarmament of the Armenian military in Karabakh. Baku would like to take part in the management of even that part of Nagorno-Karabakh, which today is under the control of Russian peacekeepers. I don’t think Moscow is fully prepared to accept such claims,” Dubnov said.

Moscow is also concerned about reports about the possibility of deploying Turkish military bases in Azerbaijan, which negatively affects Moscow's relations with Ankara and Baku, Dubnov said and noted that he did not consider Moscow's tightening of position on the issue of the Russian Mi-24 helicopter, which was shot down by the Azerbaijani military on November 9, to be accidental. “I see this as a certain element of pressure on Baku in order to achieve generally acceptable conditions for Moscow,” he said.

Azerbaijan will try to interest Moscow and Yerevan with the opening of the road through Nakhchivan and the economic transformation of the region. “I think this is a serious proposal that Moscow is unlikely to wave off. This will help Moscow to diversify its energy export routes to the West,” Dubnov said. -02D-