Author: Hovhannisian John

NATIONAL UNANIMITY IS REQUIRED
Armen Tsatouryan

Hayots Ashkhar Daily
21 Nov 08
Armenia

For forming a united front over the Karabakh issue

Yesterday’s discussions over the Karabakh issue (held in the Sports
and Cultural Center) received contradictory assessments by the native
political forces.

Following the instructions of L. Ter-Petrosyan, the leaders of the
parties which have joined the Armenian National Congress refrained
from participating in the discussion, although they hadn’t previously
concealed their desire for meeting with President S. Sargsyan.

This comes to prove that the so-called founding chairman of the
Congress did his "black deed", i.e. he ruined our attempts of reaching
a consensus or agreement over the Karabakh issue. No matter how much
we may persist in our statements that Karabakh does not belong to any
individual, the dissentient and dangerous policy of using the current
difficulties of Karabakh with internal political considerations has
already taken its course.

The divergent views expressed by different political forces with
regard to yesterday’s discussions testify to one thing only: those
who consider Nagorno Karabakh a tool rather than a goal do not need
to listen to the President, whereas those who are concerned by the
fate of Artsakh did take part in the meeting. And because the latter
were more in number, the process follows its right cou rse.

It’s not accidental that yesterday’s meeting was attended not only
by the representatives of all the parliamentary factions, including
"Heritage", but also the leaders of other pro-opposition forces
such as the National Democratic Union (Vazgen Manoukyan), National
Self-Determination Union (Paruyr Hayrikyan) and National Unity
(Artashes Geghamyan) etc.

Thus, the political parties which are concerned by the fate of Artsakh
but differ from one another on internal political issues created a
broad format in which all the representatives are unanimous at least
in three issues.

First: The attempts of playing the role of a "hero" or "traitor" are
cheap political speculations because we all are, as a matter of fact,
interested in the fair solution of the problem.

Second: the signature or rejection of any document concerning
Karabakh should be the expression of the will of the state and the
people vs. the authorities and the opposition because in both cases
it will be necessary to resist the possible threats and challenges
on a united front.

Third: Armenia’s will of being unanimous in counterbalancing the
political consensus of Azerbaijan is the pledge of our country’s firm
positions on the Karabakh issue. So, if the unity has been partially
disrupted as a result of L. Ter-Petrosyan’s recent steps, it is
necessary to think about the formation of some centre of gravity"
consisting of national patriotic forces. Such center will make a
clear-cut distinction between the tactical steps of the Armenian
diplomacy and the strategically impermissible concessions. And it
will support its attitude under any circumstances.

Such "center of gravity" will become a tool for keeping the steps
of the authorities under control, as well as a counterbalance to
the opposition’s attempts of speculating the Karabakh issue with
internal political considerations, splitting the country and making
its defeat inevitable.

It’s known to us that an expression of such agreement was the internal
political format (elaborated in 1992 and approved by the decision of
the Supreme council) prohibiting L. Ter-Petrosyan and his co-thinkers
to sign any treaty in which Nagorno Karabakh was referred to as part
of Azerbaijan.

In case of the existence of such format, L. Ter-Petrosyan, the
alleged "liberator of Artsakh", and the Armenian National Congress
will be pushed to the corner and follow the process of the formation
of national consent from a distance.

Thus the discussions devoted to the Karabakh issue put an end to the
bi-polar confrontation following the 2008 presidential elections and
marked the beginning of the process of searching for a united formula
that will help Armenia overcome the existing challenges.

RUSSIA HURRIES TO STRENGTHEN ITS POSITION IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS, TRYING TO SHIFT THE REGIONAL CENTER FROM TBILISI TO YEREVAN
Karine Ter-Sahakyan

PanARMENIAN.Net
20.11.2008 GMT+04:00

Armenia presently needs not promises of friendship and allied
relations, but a more balanced policy in relations with the Russian
Federation, which, however, should not presuppose secondary relations
with the EU or the USA.

While the US Government is being formed, Russia hurries to strengthen
its position in the South Caucasus, trying to shift the regional
center from Tbilisi to Yerevan. Yet, it is still difficult to say
what success Russia will achieve in the foreseeable future. But
the growing statements on the principle of the right of a nation
to self-determination, which Russian politicians of different ranks
have been mentioning oftener and oftener in their statements, give
grounds to believe that with Georgia retiring and Baku probably going
"free sailing" Russia takes the risk of being left face to face with
a very unreliable ally in the person of Turkey.

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The foreign policy of Ankara directed to gaining
more independence, was only adopted last year, but it is already
taking on more clear-cut outlines. In the light of these changes,
agreeing on purchase of the Iranian gas for part of it to be transited
to Eastern Europe, Turkey actually takes steps, disregarding the USA,
which, by the way, is not a novelty.

That is why the role of Armenia in the region has somewhat grown,
which could not be observed rather a long time ago. Everybody has
somehow got used to the ungrounded statements on "outpost", "strategic
allies" and the like. As we have already mentioned before, Mikhail
Saakashvili made such a present to the RF, of which Russia could
not even dream. Provoking the "five-day war" and not even waiting for
assistance from "friends", the Georgian President actually released the
hands of Russia that had long been looking for a second base (besides
Armenia) for strengthening its position in the South Caucasus. And
it was done.

There is absolutely no doubt that statements on the right of a
nation to self-determination and the fake silence on the principle of
territorial integrity of a country are done merely for Abkhazia and
South Ossetia. But since this principle is universal, it can also be
relevant for Nagorno Karabakh, not to mention Transnistria. In the
latter’s case the conflict can be considered to be almost settled,
especially when the President of Moldova Vladimir Voronin is determined
to leave the GUAM that was originally founded to regulate conflicts,
but, in fact, guaranteed the transit of hydrocarbon from the Caspian
region to Europe, bypassing Russia. Today no one is interested in the
existence of the GUAM except for Azerbaijan and Georgia. However,
the future of this organization much depends on the policy to be
adopted by the new US Administration.

Nevertheless, it should be admitted that for the first time in the
past 20 years Russian diplomacy worked rather effectively. Signing
of the Maindorf Declaration just before the Presidential Elections
of the USA, President Medvedev’s message, where he clearly implied
to the USA that he was not going to sit like a stone image and wait
till anti-missile defence is launched in Eastern Europe, and, lastly,
frequent statements on the necessity to speedily and peacefully settle
the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict drove the USA into a secondary position,
where it has to fall behind Russia. It is difficult to foretell how
long this position will last, especially with the global crisis going
on. Old Europe has already declared that it is going to cooperate
with Moscow. And the problems of Poland, the Czech Republic and the
Baltic states of the EU are almost forgotten about.

There is another minute point too. Baku will encounter more
difficulties in relations with Russia, than Tbilisi did. Constant
parade of the "inestimable oil supplies" and "military power" might
one day annoy the "sleeping dog", and it is still a question what
Russia’s reaction will be.

Meanwhile, in the Caspian post-Soviet territory Azerbaijan disposes
of the biggest naval forces after Russia. At the same time it has the
largest commercial fleet in the Caspian region. This means more than
fifty vessels of great displacement, capable of transporting troops
and military equipment. The USA and other NATO members lend a hand
to the formation of the Azerbaijani naval forces, which carry out
regular maneuvers inviting officers from Turkey and the USA. Total
military support offered to Baku is calculated to be several hundred
million dollars annually.

All this can’t but put us on our guard. It is clear that the naval
fleet of Azerbaijan can hardly back the army in case of the most
unfavourable solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but we should
consider this potential too. Presently Armenia needs not promises
of friendship and allied relations, but a more balanced policy in
relations with the RF, which, however, should not presuppose secondary
relations with the EU or the USA.

A SONG FOR PEACE: BOAZ, JELENA AND SIRUSHO TO RECORD TOGETHER

esctoday.com
Nov 20 2008
Netherlands

Three Eurovision Song Contest 2008 top ten finalists, Sirusho, Jelena
Tomasevic and Boaz Mauda,will be recording together next month a
special song for peace. Sirusho will soon be flying to Sweden for
a concert with Charlotte Perrelli and is currently working on her
latest video in Greek.

As Sirusho revealed on Armenian national television yesterday, Serbian
Jelena Tomasevic, Israeli Boaz Mauda and herself , who all represented
their respective countries in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest will
be recording a special song about peace together in December. The
song will be released in many countries.

Sirusho is currently busy working on her new video for Erotas xafnikos
(Sudden love), her new song composed by Hayko (Armenia 2007) and
penned by Natalia Germanou who also penned Greece’s winning entry My
number one in 2005. The video will be ready in the beginning of 2009
and it will be aired in Armenia, Cyprus and Greece.

Sirusho also stated that soon she will be travelling to Sweden to
participate in a concert together with Eurovision winner Charlotte
Perelli.

Zaven Shegrikyan reporting for esctoday.com from Yerevan.

ARMENIA: URANIUM EXPLORATION PLANS PROVOKE FEARS
By Arpi Harutiunian

Journal of Turkish Weekly

ews.php?id=61471
Nov 19 2008
Turkey

Multi-million dollar project leaves villagers worried that their
health will suffer.

The villagers of Lernadzor in the southern hills of Armenia are
alarmed at plans to prospect for Uranium ore in the area, nearly
forty year after a local mine was closed, allegedly due to a fatal
accident linked to radiation poisoning.

In April this year, a contract was signed between the Armenian
environment minister, Aram Harutiunian, and the Russian company
Atompredmedzoloto to mine uranium throughout Armenia.

The hills around Lernadzor, in the Syunik region, 340 kilometres
south of the Armenian capital Yerevan, are a prime candidate for
exploratory work, because the region is well known as a source of
uranium since Soviet times. Experts believe there are thousands of
tonnes of ore still in the ground.

Atompredmedzoloto is the world’s second biggest uranium miner,
dominating the market in Russia.

The Armenian and Russian partners have said they will start prospecting
by means of drilling in the hills near the villages of Lernadzor,
Pukhrut and Katnarat. If they find sufficient amounts of uranium,
as they expect, they will start to mine them from 2010.

Harutiunian said that the exploration project will not pose any
danger and all work will be done strictly in accordance with Armenian
legislation.

"There are no grounds for concern because we will monitor…the
prospecting," said Harutiunian. "And that means that nothing is
threatening the environment."

Sergei Kirienko, the former Russian prime minister who is general
director of Rosatom, the Russian state corporation which owns
Atompredmedzoloto, said that depending on the amount of uranium they
discover, the company could invest tens of millions of dollars in the
Armenian project. He also emphasised that the uranium would benefit
Armenia’s nuclear power industry.

A new venture, the Armenian-Russian Mining Company, was launched in
Yerevan in 2008 to develop the project. "By our calculations, the
joint venture ought to completely cover Armenia’s supplies of uranium,
which is [an important] factor in its energy security," said Kirienko.

He said that a joint team of Armenian and Russian specialists had
already identified the areas they wished to prospect – the ones in
Syunik amongst them.

However, both locals and environmentalists are alarmed by the news.

"We heard about this [exploration work] only from news broadcasts,
we weren’t asked what we wanted or what we should do so that the
village doesn’t suffer," said Lernadzor elder Styopa Petrosian. "We all
know that uranium is a radioactive substance which can very quickly
create levels of radioactivity that directly affect the environment
and people’s health."

"If work begins on extracting uranium, Armenia will turn into a
disaster zone," said Hakob Sanasarian, a leading green activist. "This
kind of mining could be environmentally destructive for such a small
country."

Villagers in Lernadzor say that in the 1970s there was a brief period
of uranium mining during which several miners reportedly died and
the mine was abruptly shut down. There was no explanation given for
the closure.

"I remember just like it was today how the whole village heard that
several people had died in the mine, but no one found out what happened
and why," said 70-year-old Babken Gevorgian.

"All the conversations were about how the miners died from high levels
of radiation," said Vladik Martirosian, head of the environmental
organisation Khustup and an engineer in the environmental department
of the nearby Zangezur Copper Molybdenum Factory. "I think that was
what happened because we did not even see their bodies. They shut
the mine and they also shut our mouths."

IWPR approached Armenia’s ministry of energy and natural resources
about why the mine was closed, but officials were unable to respond
to our enquiries.

Another cause for concern is the proximity of the projected exploration
work to Armenia’s biggest and richest national park, Shikahogh. The
director of Shikahogh, Ruben Mkrtchian, is resolutely opposed to the
uranium extraction project.

"The distance between [proposed exploration area] and Shikahogh is
less than 50 km," said Mkrtchian. "That means that [if] mines open, the
national park will be subjected to radiation. Animals will definitely
get sick because of this and trees will start to wither. If that
happens, the whole ecological balance of the forest will be disrupted."

Scientist and academician Sergei Grigorian, who will lead the
prospecting work, says that contemporary mining methods are safe and
that mining will not pose any environmental hazards. He said that the
more dangerous process of uranium enrichment would take place not in
Armenia, but in a joint Russian-Kazak centre in the city of Angarsk
in Siberia.

Environmentalists say they have not been convinced. Eveline Ghukasian,
deputy director of the Institute of Hydrology and Fish-Breeding
in the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, said, "In Syunik
[region], where the environment has already been polluted because of
large-scale mining work, the last thing we need is radiation caused
by the extraction of uranium. Starting up the mines could have not
just irreversible environmental effects, but cause early death,
cancers and birth defects."

Local officials say they are satisfied with the government’s assurances
about the safety of the project.

But villagers like Haik Minasian, 20, are sceptical. "Because local
officials support these government decisions, I am sure that our
protests won’t be heard, they will start looking for uranium and the
effect on us, local people, will be lethal," he said. "One day we’ll
go to sleep and we won’t wake up."

PRESS RELEASE
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Fr.Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E- mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version: nian.htm

HIS HOLINESS ARAM I RECEIVES THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF HMEM

His Holiness Aram I received the Central Committee of HMEM in Antelias on
November 13. The organization is marking the 90th anniversary of its
establishment through a number of community-wide events this month. On this
occasion, the members of the Central Committee briefed the Pontiff about the
sports’ organizations activities and future projects.

His Holiness commended the role of HMEM in planting a true Armenian
identity, a spirit of volunteerism and service in the new generations. The
Pontiff depicted the organization’s existence over the past 90 years as a
school enriched with the experience of 9 decades and one through the ranks
of which passed innumerable Armenians enriching our national life through
their dedicated service.

##
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the history and
the mission of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer to the web page of
the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.

ADB PRESIDENT TO VISIT SOUTH CAUCASUS ON NOV 18

ARKA
Nov 12, 2008

YEREVAN, November 12. /ARKA/. President of the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) Haruhiko Kuroda will pay a four-day official visit to the region
on November 18.

The ADB president will meet with Armenian, Azeri and Georgian officials
to discuss credit agreements in the region.

Kuroda will be present at the opening ceremony of the ADB Office
in Yerevan.

Established in 1966, ADB is composed of 63 member-countries. On
September 20, 2005 Armenia became ADB member by joining the Agreement
on the Establishment of the Asian Development Bank.

The Armenian government and ADB have signed a number of agreements
and a memorandum of understanding.

8TH SESSION OF HEADS OF CIS STATE NEWS AGENCIES TO KICK OFF IN KISHINEV

ARMENPRESS
Nov 10, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS: The 8th session of the heads of the
CIS member-countries state news agencies will kick off in Kishinev
November 11-12. CIS Humanitarian Department official told Armenpress
that the participants of the session are expected to discuss issues on
developing common approach directed towards expansion of the exchange
of information, products of the news agencies, copyright.

A group of issues of the agenda refer to the information support to the
CIS development concept and events dedicated to the 65th anniversary
of Great Patriotic War.

The participants are also expected to discuss issues on further
development of "CIS Member-Countries National News Agencies
Association’s Information Product" service.

Within the frameworks of the event in the History Museum of Moldova
"My Country" photo exhibition will kick off.

Executive director of "Armenpress" news agency Hrayr Zoryan is also
participating in the works of the session.

EX LIST DOOMED FROM THE START
Cliff Lipson

Toronto Star
534429
Nov 11 2008
Canada

Montreal native Anne Bedian, right, with Elizabeth Reaser on ‘The Ex
List,’ which has now landed in the Axed List.

No one has said anything official yet, but it’s pretty clear that
The Ex List has become an ex-show.

After only four episodes of the single-camera romantic comedy aired,
CBS abruptly pulled it off the schedule, to be replaced initially by
the more successful NCIS, and this week by a Price is Right Salutes
the Troops game-show special.

Meanwhile, here in Canada, the show limps on for another week, if
only after midnight (12:37 a.m.) next Tuesday on the Newfoundland
"superstation," NTV.

The series would seem to have been doomed from the start – showrunner
Diane Ruggiero famously stormed off the set within days of its debut,
citing creative interference and vowing never to work for the network
again.

The show, for those who haven’t seen it – and not many have, which
is essentially the problem – stars Elizabeth Reaser (Grey’s Anatomy,
the upcoming feature Twilight) as a 30-something florist who, on the
advice of a sarcastic psychic, played by Montreal-born Anne Bedian,
begins working her way back through all her ex-boyfriends in search
of her perfect soulmate.

Sigal Avin, the creator/producer of Mythological X, the hit Israeli
half-hour upon which Ex List is based, was brought in to oversee what
remained of the season’s ordered 13 episodes, which are apparently
still in production – anticipating an 11th-hour reprieve, or at the
very least, an afterlife on DVD.

"It was definitely a shocker for all of us," admits co-star Bedian
of the Ruggiero defection.

"I mean, we had no idea."

And this phone conversation took place weeks before The Ex List became
The Axed List. One can only imagine how shocked they all were at that.

But then, Bedian says the cast and crew were pretty much insulated
from the internal battles.

"We’re sort of removed," the actor allowed, "because we’re shooting in
San Diego and the writers are in Burbank. But there’s only maybe three
or four episodes left that were really blank screens when she left."

And now Bedian’s psychic will see blank screens in her immediate
future, which is doubly unfortunate for her, since the initially
incidental character was starting to play a considerably more
substantial role.

"In the Israeli version, I think, they had her on once or twice,"
she says. "But here they decided to make her a recurring character. So
I am very lucky and happy for that.

"It’s a departure for me in my work," adds the episodic veteran. "I’m
usually not, you know, doing comedy so much. So it’s something to
add to my resumé. It’s great."

Bedian invested a lot more in the character than was on the printed
page.

"I stuck that accent in," she says, "which really helped the
character. I remember there was a big sign at the auditions that said
`No accents.’ But I went for Armenian, because I am Armenian."

The perpetually irritated attitude, she says, is part Golden Girl
Dorothy Zbornak and part Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous, two
of her favourite shows.

She wouldn’t have known it when we talked (on the other hand, maybe
she would), but it is oddly appropriate that the show’s likely final
airings are coming out of Newfoundland.

Bedian was stationed there when she was in the navy.

You read that right. As commonplace as it may be now, at the time
there were few women serving.

"I was maybe the second or the third," she says.

"I was in for three years. Even got a medal for it.

"I was very young, just 17, so it was a bit traumatic. But in another
way that was a blessing. My petty officer had two daughters my age,
so he was extremely paternal. Since I was the youngest member of the
crew, most of these boys were like my big brothers, so they were very,
very protective of me."

Particularly when they sailed on NATO manoeuvres with other ships.

"The Canadian ships all had alcohol on board," she laughs, "so
everyone wanted to come aboard and party with us all the time. The
Americans would look over and be like, `Oh my God, they have girls,
they have booze.’ And the guys would always say, `They’re one of
us. You can’t touch them. You can’t treat them like they’re not
sailors or soldiers. Hands off.’"

–Boundary_(ID_axtgI/CXycGg8s8kd5QC0w )–

"WESTERN MINES COMPANY" PLANS TO MAKE INVESTMENTS IN ARMENIA’S JEWELRY SPHERE

ARMENPRESS
Nov 7, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS: Armenian Prime Minister Tigran
Sargsyan met today with the director of "Western mines company"
dealing with jewelry Shermon Sisi. The company is planning to make
mutually beneficial investments in Armenia’s jewelry sphere developing
cooperation with Armenian partners.

Governmental press service told Armenpress that Shermon Sisi informed
the Armenian prime minister that before arriving to Armenia he met
with the president of his country Sierra Leone Republic of Western
Africa who also greeted the intention of the company to establish
business ties with Armenia and noted that the government of his
country is ready to support the implementation of the program.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan assured that Armenian government,
underscoring the support of the private sector and taking into
consideration the purposefulness of continuing and developing the
existing traditions in the sphere, will support the consolidation of
business ties which according to the prime minister may essentially
promote the establishment of political relations between the two
countries.

ENERGY AT ROOT OF KARABAKH ACCORD
By Nikolaus von Twickel

Moscow Times
Nov 5 2008
Russia

The presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed a declaration
on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict at a meeting with President Dmitry
Medvedev in a sign of the Kremlin’s growing role and the importance
of energy politics in the South Caucasus.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev
signed the largely symbolic document at Medvedev’s Maiendorf residence,
just outside Moscow on Saturday.

Armenia has traditionally been a staunch ally of Russia, while
energy-rich Azerbaijan has maintained friendly ties with Georgia,
but Moscow has been looking for greater cooperation with Azerbaijan
on energy issues.

The five-point document, published on the Kremlin’s web site, says
both countries will step up efforts to find a peaceful solution over
Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan that
broke away after a bloody conflict in the early 1990s that killed
more than 30,000 and displaced more than 1 million.

The declaration is the first such document signed by the heads of
the two states since Russia mediated a cease-fire agreement in 1994.

While it stresses the need for a political settlement based on
international law, the document does not contain any significant
commitments, such as to forego the use of force, nor does it mention
the conflicting issues at the heart of the conflict, territorial
integrity and national self-determination.

The outcome of the meeting was not as significant as some may have
hoped.

"This was not much different than dozens of meetings before," Svante
Cornell, research director at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, a
joint U.S.-Swedish think tank, said Tuesday by telephone from Tbilisi,
Georgia. "All we have seen is basically two leaders committing
themselves to solving the conflict."

Alexei Malashenko, an analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center, said
the declaration was largely ceremonial.

"The fact that Medvedev [presided over the talks) just means that both
sides accept Russia as mediator," Malashenko said Tuesday. "Russia
needed an urgent rehabilitation as peacekeeper in the region."

Moscow’s relations with the West worsened dramatically after it sent
soldiers and tanks deep into Georgia to repel a Georgian military
attack to reclaim its breakaway region of South Ossetia in August.

The declaration also says negotiations should continue within the
framework of the so-called Minsk Group, a 12-member body headed
jointly by Russia, France and the United States, and overseen by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza and French
Ambassador Bernard Fassier were at Maiendorf, an OSCE spokesman said
by telephone from Vienna.

Bryza, the senior U.S. diplomat overseeing the South Caucasus region,
praised the result.

"My country fully supports this document. The declaration shows that
both presidents can work seriously towards solving this conflict,"
he said, Interfax reported Monday.

Cornell said the declaration was a show of force by the Kremlin
capitalizing on the weakness of the West, as the Georgian war in
August, the global financial crisis and the leadership change in
the United States would all work to cripple Western influence in
the region.

"There is a new geopolitical situation now," he said.

Russia, he said, was offering a solution that would mean a loss of
independence for Azerbaijan, possibly through the deployment of a
Moscow-sponsored peacekeeping force on its territory.

Cornell said Moscow was probably eyeing a "common state" solution,
something that had been on the negotiating table back in the 1990s.

This proposal, which had been rejected by Baku, focuses on bringing
Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh together in a confederation.

Carnegie’s Malashenko said that while its influence in the region
has grown, Russia would not go it alone.

"To solve this conflict, you need more than one mediator; you need
a group of mediators," he said. "Moscow won’t act outside the format
of the Minsk Group."

Malashenko also denied that the talks might herald a weakening of
Moscow’s traditional support for Armenia.

"I cannot imagine that one country will give one-sided support to
one party, because this is impossible," he said.

Both Azerbaijan and Armenia depend on trade routes through Georgia.

Moscow has recently been courting Azerbaijan, which wants to sell
more gas to Russia.

Medvedev signed a cooperation agreement with Aliyev in Baku in July,
and in Moscow this September both leaders discussed direct talks
between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Europe has also been making overtures to Azerbaijan as a vital supplier
to a proposed new gas pipeline, which would reduce Western dependence
on Russian energy.

The Nabucco pipeline project has been backed both by the European
Union and the United States.

EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs will travel to Turkey and
Azerbaijan this Wednesday to show Europe’s commitment to the project,
The Associated Press reported.

Moscow has worried the EU by negotiating with Turkmenistan and
Kazakhstan to commit to sending their Caspian Sea gas through Russia.

It is also pushing South Stream, a rival pipeline project by
state-controlled Gazprom, which is slated to cost some $13 billion.