Surenyants: The Upcoming Visit Of The President Of Russia To Armenia

SURENYANTS: THE UPCOMING VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA TO ARMENIA IS CONNECTED WITH THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH PROBLEM
by Lilit Ovanisyan

WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY
October 20, 2008 Monday
Russia

AUTHORITIES OF ARMENIA EXPERIENCE PRESSURE OF BOTH RUSSIA AND THE
WEST ABOUT THE NAGORNO-KARABAKH ISSUE; The confrontation between the
West and Russia increased after the five-day war in Georgia limits
the ability of Armenian authorities to maneuver between these two
forces in making these or those decisions.

The confrontation between the West and Russia increased after the
five-day war in Georgia limits the ability of Armenian authorities to
maneuver between these two forces in making these or those decisions.

Member of the executive board of Respublika party, Suren Surenyants,
said this commenting on the possible goals of the visit of the Russian
President to Yerevan and on the visits of top-ranking Russian state
officials to Armenia that had grown more frequent.

According to the press service of the President of Armenia, President
of Russia Dmitry Medvedev will arrive to Yerevan on a working visit
according to the invitation of Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan on
October 20. The visit will last for two days.

In October, Armenia was visited by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, as well as Executive
Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Nikolai
Bordyuzha.

At a press conference in Yerevan on October 3, Russian Foreign
Minister Lavrov announced that conflicting parties approved a number
of fundamental provisions. These provisions were fixed in the document
that co-chairs of the Minsk OSCE group representing Russia, US and
France deposited in OSCE.

Lavrov stated, "naturally, non-coordinated issues remain in the
document but there is a number of options that allow for the settlement
of these non-coordinated issues further." Lavrov hopes that the
meetings planned in the framework of resolving of the conflict will
help the parties to move further in solving of this problem.

According to publication of daily opposition newspaper Aikakan
Zhamank (Armenian Time) of October 15, during a meeting with his
Armenian counterpart, Seiran Oganyan, Russian Defense Minister
Serdyukov discussed the removal of Armenian armed forces from the
security zone around Nagorno-Karabakh. According to the newspaper,
the Russian Defense Minister brought a military map of the territories
forming the security belt around Nagorno-Karabakh to Yerevan.

In one of his latest interviews to Rossiyskaya Gazeta dedicated to
resolving of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Lavrov said that two or
three unsettled issues remained in the matter of conflict regulation
and these issues would be coordinated at the new meetings of the
presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan. First of all, the matter is
about the Lachin Corridor.

Lavrov said, "as one of the three mediators of the Minsk group
of the OSCE we feel that the outcome is realistic. Naturally, it
is up to Armenia and Azerbaijan to decide this in the framework of
direct agreements but mediators Russia, France and US who understand
all details perfectly and feel sensitivity of this process see a
possibility of the outcome."

Former Foreign Minister of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, Arman Melikyan,
who spoke in the press recently cracked down on the stance of Russia
in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. For example, according to
Melikyan, the statement of Lavrov about the Lachin Corridor should
be viewed as the unwillingness of Russia to leave this corridor in
the jurisdiction of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Melikyan said, "The most paradoxical fact is that this action will
start a decline of the Russian presence in Transcaucasia. This is
the most important aspect of the current actions of Russia. Russia
already fell into a certain trap because of the South Ossetian
events. This will be a continuation. If the President of Armenia
– born in Nagorno-Karabakh – decides to surrender the territories
nobody in Armenia will wish to defend Nagorno-Karabakh for the second
time. Russia will have to undertake the whole responsibility for life
and security of the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians." Melikyan also does
not rule out that if Russia continues such policy Armenia may drop
out of the orbit of Russia’s influence.