All Karabakh Conflict Mediators have National Interests in Conflicting Parties: Analyst

All three co-chairs in the OSCE Minsk Group have national interests in the parties to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. And if in the case of Azerbaijan, the issue is primarily about economic cooperation as a resource-rich country, then what prevails in Armenia’s case is the humanitarian factor, which is associated with the influence of its large diaspora in Russia, France and the United States, said Russia political analyst Vitaliy Zhuravlov in an interview with Vesti.az.

“It should be noted that there are also many immigrants from Azerbaijan in Russia. Therefore, different lobby groups try to influence governments, public opinion and the countries having a mediating role in the relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result, the Minsk Group and other international organizations, as a rule, take a neutral stance, although occasionally there are preferences in one direction or another,” he said.

Zhuravlov also noted that it is Russia that has to be the most active in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, “due to our history, geography, economic and the need to maintain stability in south of the CIS, and perhaps partly to domestic policy issues.” Furthermore, the analyst believes that it is Russia that should promote peace initiatives, “which it does.”