Maxim Vaskov: Artsakh has been Armenian for thousands of years, and it will always remain Armenian

Speaking with Alpha News, political scientist Maxim Vaskov commented on Armenian-Russian relations, Azerbaijan’s policy towards Armenia, and the West’s goals in the South Caucasus region.

According to the expert, undoubtedly, there is a crisis in Armenian-Russian relations.

“This is a crisis of trust. Armenia is now building relations with countries with which Russia is in a very serious conflict. In general, if allied countries are involved in relations with hostile states, this certainly undermines trust and raises questions on both sides. Russia has not rejected allied relations with Armenia and has not renounced security guarantees, although Armenia seriously questions this. There are only two countries surrounded by Armenia that are absolutely not interested in weakening it, let alone destroying it as a state. These are Russia and Iran; only they are not interested in Armenia’s defeat,” Vaskov said.

According to the expert, Azerbaijan pursues policy from a position of strength, constantly raising demands, while Armenia’s position is absolutely peaceful.

“Relations between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey are extremely complicated, to say the least. This comes from the historical context and the aggressive policy pursued by Azerbaijan towards Armenia, as well as the Genocide of Artsakh. Artsakh has been Armenian for thousands of years, and it will always remain Armenian. The native Armenian population left this land because of the threat of being actually destroyed.

Armenia is now facing the issue of national survival. Azerbaijan pursues policy from a position of strength, constantly raising its demands. Armenia’s position is absolutely peaceful: the Armenian people, the Armenian state wants to live in peace to prevent the tragedy of the Genocide from happening again,” Vaskov said.

“I see the desire for peace in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict only from the Armenian side. Azerbaijan and Turkey are only raising their demands. When they are given one thing, they immediately put forward another claim. Azerbaijan does not just want a peace agreement based on its interests; it wants to humiliate, show that it is stronger, and show its dominance, this is due to complexes. Azerbaijan violated the agreements on Artsakh that it signed; therefore, in the future, Baku can do anything,” Vaskov stressed.

Speaking about the role of the West in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, the expert said that the West’s only goal is to ruin relations between Armenia and Russia.

“The West is certainly interested in Armenia severing all relations with Russia. They want to show publicly that Russia has lost yet another ally. We should understand that for the European Union and the United States, Turkey is the dominant country. Their goal is to ruin Armenia’s relations with Russia. They will simply dictate the demands, as they did to Ukraine.

As for Armenia’s relations with the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), we just need to sit down, discuss everything in detail and figure it out. It’s always easy to quit, but the question is what will happen in return. Speaking of possible NATO assistance, it is worth remembering Afghanistan. This is a good example. In addition, it should be taken into account that Turkey is a full-fledged, most powerful NATO country, second only to the US,” Vaskov concluded.