Tuesday, November 24 2015 15:18

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit aimed at Armenia's involvement in Syrian issue rather than negotiations on Karabakh problem, Director of the Regional Studies Center Richard Giragosian said at the discussions on Karabakh issue on November 24. 

"The information spread after the meeting about the possibility of ceding the territories adjacent to Karabakh were more likely a fake aimed at checking the reaction of the societies of the conflicting sides", he noted. The expert also considered the information about Stepanakert's intention to provide the airport to Russia for delivering blows on Islamic State positions a "fairy tale" (President of Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan announced about this at a press conference in Moscow).

Former Minister of National Security of Armenia David Shahnazaryan thinks that the information related to the possibility of ceding the regions under Armenian side's control immediately after Lavrov's visit to Armenia was "spread" by Moscow, in order to show Yerevan that Armenia's interests are not a priority for Russia. He also thinks that the stability in South Caucasus depends on Moscow-Baku relations. "The closer relations between these countries are the higher are the threats of the regional security", he noted. 

To recall, the Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote following Lavrov's visit to Yerevan that according to its source close to the negotiations, "one of the options of the peace plan, which is currently being discussed, is as follows: the Armenians return the control over most of the captured Azerbaijani territories around Karabakh to Azerbaijan, while retaining the Lachin corridor, which provides connection with Armenia and, possibly, another district.  Baku does not recognize Karabakh's secession officially, but, according to the plan, it pledges not to solve the problem by force.  To guarantee it, international peacekeepers (the UN or the Collective Security Treaty Organization) could be deployed in the conflict zone, as well as the districts returned to Azerbaijan would be demilitarized."