Epress.am News from Armenia
Resuming the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in Russia’s interest, said Georgia’s Strategy and Development Institute Director Andro Barnov in an interview with Georgia Online.
According to him, it’s no coincidence that Russia extended the term of its military base in Armenia. Furthermore, Russia doesn’t want a force alternative to Russia in the region, by way of a Turkey-Georgia-Azerbaijan alliance.
“Moscow cannot openly oppose this; however, it is attempting to provoke the situation. I can’t say that Russia is responsible for this particular incident [the latest skirmish along the NKR-Azerbaijan line of contact], but I can assume, since it’s plain to see, that the war stems from Russia’s interests. And Azerbaijan is well aware of the severity of the negative outcome that can occur if Russia is provoked. I don’t think Azerbaijan will take the lead, but nothing is guaranteed,” he said.