If Military Actions Resume, Russia Could Go to War Against Azerbaijan: Analyst

The extension of the term of Russia’s military base in Armenia applies to the Nagorno-Karabakh situation. With this step, the Russian authorities, for a certain period of time, prevent the possibility of war, said analyst Heydar Jamal to Russian paper Komsomolskaya Pravda.

In the analyst’s words, after the signing of a Russia-Armenia agreement, Armenia cannot initiate war, since if such a step is taken, Russia will withdraw.

“In any case, neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan have an out. The war has simply been postponed and will begin in 2011, becoming part of Russia’s and the US’ pre-election campaign. And in case of military conflict, I believe that Russia will fight against Azerbaijan. And why not? If the Russian Federation has chosen to protect Armenia’s interests, then that doesn’t exclude the formal use of arms,” said Jamal, according to the Russian news source.

The analyst is convinced that in the case of the development of such events, Azerbaijan will be entirely isolated geographically.

“Turkey is in favor of postponing war. The agreement also strengthens Iran’s role, since this way they keep US military actions away from the country [Iran]. How? Azerbaijan could become a near-border state. But there are Russian C-300 [missile devices] in Armenia and Abkhazia, which shut off the sky from Iran. Russia, of course, can not get involved in military actions against Iran, but the presence of C-300 creates an atmosphere of uncertainty, which is the most terrifying in preparing for military action,” said Jamal.