There is no longer a need for Russian peacekeepers’ presence in the region, Russian political scientist says

It turns out that the function of the Russian peacekeeping contingent has died out; there is no longer a need for the presence of Russian peacekeeping forces in the region, Aslan Rubaev, the expert on Eurasian studies, said in an interview with Alpha News.

“This function, actually, has not been particularly clear over the past three years. Because their primary task was to prevent war. But the war, unfortunately, happened. Therefore, everything that concerns Russian peacekeeping forces is like a punching bag now. They are blamed in the West, in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

But no one understands the main point – to prevent a big war. What can peacekeepers do when major politicians around the world are interested in this war? Of course, nothing. Therefore, in this case, I think that Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh, which, as I understand, will cease to exist from January 1, 2024, should leave.

But will the war be over when the necessary infrastructure: the corridors and Syunik, have not yet been completely taken under Azerbaijan’s control? This is a question left in the air,” he said.

“Will this be the next war? Because a number of experts are already predicting that a major war could break out in winter or spring. And I, of course, would like Russian peacekeepers not to be there, since they may be in hot water. And then Russia will have to interfere,” he said, adding that the continued activity of the “Soros foundations” in Armenia and the periodic “strange statements of Pashinyan” indicated that the methods of color revolutions were being used.

“Pashinyan was the beneficiary of this conflict. On the one hand, he worked according to the manual. He was not ready to defend Karabakh and Armenia, he appealed to international law, to the West. But he forgot that it was Russia that created the roadmap for freezing this conflict. And all this would continue as it has continued for 30 years. We wouldn’t win, but we wouldn’t lose anything in a global sense,” Rubaev said.

He added that as long as Pashinyan is in the political space of Armenia, there can be no talk of any subjectivity or territorial integrity of the country.