Semyon Bagdasarov: Strengthening of Turkiye, Great Britain and other Western countries in the Caucasus will lead to tragedy for Russia

Despite the situation in Ukraine, Russia should turn its attention to the South Caucasus, since the strengthening of Turkiye, Great Britain and other Western countries in this region will lead to tragedy for Russia, Semyon Bagdasarov, Director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Central Asia, told Alpha News.

“Russia should not wait for everything to end in Ukraine. Russia has enough funds and opportunities to pay attention to many regions, including the South Caucasus, and this needs to be addressed. We must proceed from the fact that the problem of Armenia is not only a problem of Armenia and the Armenian people, but it is also a problem of Russia. The strengthening of Turkiye, Great Britain and other Western countries in the South Caucasus will lead to very serious geopolitical changes in the south of Armenia. This could lead to a tragedy for Russia, so Russia should not abandon the South Caucasus,” he said.

According to Bagdasarov, it is obvious that Prime Minister Pashinyan was brought to power in Armenia in 2018 by structures hostile to Russia.

“Back then, the course was taken to reject Russia. Another thing is that Russia, either because of professional incompetence or because of a disregard for its duties, pretends that everything is fine and nothing terrible has happened. What matters for them is that Pashinyan comes to the EurAsEC meeting. As if that’s the most important thing. A course has been taken to move away from Russia. Therefore, Russia needs to find opportunities and forces to correct the situation, acting in its own interests, within the interests of the people of Armenia, within the framework of the laws, the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia,” Bagdasarov added.

According to him, the Crossroads of Peace is “New Vasyuki” from Ilf and Petrov’s masterpiece “The Twelve Chairs”, and its author is the new “Ostap Bender” in politics.

“Armenia is facing destruction; it can simply become a ‘Western Azerbaijan.’ Today, Armenia is very easy target. This man (Pashinyan – ed.) is absolutely incompetent in this field. He is a man of capitulative thinking, ‘Ostap Bender’ in politics. His idea ‘Crossroads of Peace’ is ‘New Vasyuki’ by Ostap Bender,” Bagdasarov stressed.

“No one will allow Armenia to have these crossroads and paths through it so that it exists peacefully. This is not going to happen! Armenia is weak today, and the Azerbaijani leadership, as you know, does not hide its goals. We are talking about the absorption of Armenia by Azerbaijan and the creation of ‘Western Azerbaijan’, a province that will be extremely friendly with Turkiye. That’s the future of Armenia if the Armenians don’t finally wake up. That is why Russia should not stay away from these events and allow Armenia to be absorbed,” the expert concluded.