Trump’s priority will be global issues and only then problems of South Caucasus — Konstantin Tasits

Speaking with Alpha News, Konstantin Tasits, Russian political scientist and expert on the South Caucasus, commented on Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election and his foreign policy priorities regarding Russia and the South Caucasus.

“I believe it is early to talk about what policy the Trump administration will pursue and how it will affect relations with Russia or the situation in the South Caucasus. Since politicians tend to make inflated promises during the pre-election period, it is not entirely clear how they will be implemented in practice. It will be possible to discuss this topic in detail only after Trump officially takes office and makes key appointments in his administration. This applies to the head of the State Department, the position of national security adviser, and those persons who will specifically oversee relations with Russia and interaction with Eurasia, including the South Caucasus. We can talk about how the policy will change if it changes depending on which people will be appointed to these positions and which specific proposals from the United States will be announced on the key problems that exist in the region,” Tasits said.

According to him, global issues will be resolved as a priority, and only then will the Armenian-Azerbaijani contradictions be resolved.

“Talking about ending the war in Ukraine in 24 hours is, in general, such a populist statement. This is such a difficult problem that cannot be solved in such a short time. In addition, we have seen, for example, indeed, Trump’s address to the Armenian Catholicos in Lebanon, if I am not mistaken, and some messages towards Armenia. But most likely this was an attempt to attract the votes of the Armenian diaspora in the run-up to the elections.

The focus on the Karabakh problem, the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization will depend on how relevant it will be for Trump amid other big problems, such as the confrontation in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Taiwan problem. Of course, the South Caucasus will be somewhat in the shadow,” Tasits concluded.