Europe`s involvement in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process impossible with Russian peacekeepers deployed there – Andrey Areshev

ArmInfo.Europe’s involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process is impossible with Russian peacekeepers deployed ‘on land’, Andrey Areshev, a Russian expert in  the Caucasus, said in an interview with ArmInfo. 

“As an expert, I cannot understand at all how Brussels is going to do  it. Also, it is absolutely unclear how European structures are going  to be involved in the border delimitation and demarcation process  between Armenia and Azerbaijan, without any practical mechanisms ‘on  land’ at their disposal. What is clear is only Europe’s desire to  establish control over both the Karabakh pace process and entire  process of settling Armenian-Azerbaijani problems,” Mr Areshev said.  

Europe’s attitude to Moscow and its interests in the post-Soviet  space is not at all inspiring optimism. And the previous relative  cooperation, at least within the OSCE Minsk Group, has given way  Europe totally ignoring Russia. The same can be said of other  regional mechanisms. 

According to Mr Areshev, Armenia’s Premier Nikol Pashinyan is trying  to maneuver without taking sides with Moscow or Brussels, seeking to  retain its seemingly stable political positions with the help of  Europe’s promises and money. In this context, the expert recalls  Brussels’ promise of Euro 2.6bln to Armenia. However, since most of  the funds are loans, they will make Armenia even more dependent on  the West.  

“The current actions of the statesman Pashinyan and his team appear  more tactical than strategic. These people go on ‘patching up  economic and political holes’, which cannot last long for obvious  reasons. And his notorious geopolitical maneuvering is being  accompanied by serious reputation risks for Armenia and, primarily  for Nagorno-Karabakh, which, in turn, is causing discontent and  protests inside Armenia,” Mr Areshev said.