Russia is not going anywhere from Caucasus, political scientist says

Speaking with Alpha News, Russian political scientist Artur Atayev commented on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement that he is always ready to support the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.

According to the expert, Putin sends a message that has real diplomatic implications.

“Russia is not going anywhere from the Caucasus. Russia is the largest state that has a direct relationship with the Caucasus region. Therefore, Vladimir Putin is guided by both geopolitics and geography. In this regard, he has not said anything new since the times of Alexander I and Nicholas I, so the direction remains the same.

Despite the desire of the European elites to somehow participate in resolving major conflicts in Transcaucasia, they have neither diplomatic potential nor experience in this matter. The former elites have left, and the current European political elites have many internal problems and contradictory policies.

Therefore, Putin sends a message that has real diplomatic implications. There are specialists in the Russian Foreign Ministry who can act as mediators, intermediaries and can implement an alternative to the West policy in Transcaucasia,” Atayev said.

“Look how many times Putin has met with Aliyev and the current political elite of Armenia in recent times, despite the cooling of relations. This is an objective reality. Where there is such serious economic cooperation, Russia is interested in the political and economic partners—in this case, both Azerbaijan and Armenia—not being in a state of harsh, aggressive, and military confrontation,” Atayev concluded.