Vasily Koltashov: Armenia will no longer lose its territories if Russia is a mediator

Russian political scientist Vasily Koltashov commented to Alpha News on the importance of Russia’s mediation in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict.

“Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow is ready to host negotiations between Baku and Yerevan. Russia now seeks to show, first of all, the Armenian society that if it serves as a mediator and if the Armenian society does not reject this mediation, then Armenia will no longer lose its territories and it will be possible to keep the situation under control. Because the Western arbitration led to the complete liquidation of Artsakh, the elimination of the grounds for the presence of peacekeepers there, and the loss of opportunities to build a system of balanced corridors, when the corridor through the territory of Armenia is complemented by the corridor through the territory of Azerbaijan, for example, under the control of Russian peacekeepers,” Koltashov said.

“Now Aliyev has the opportunity, in response to allegedly shooting Armenian border guards or allegedly committed sabotage, to seize Armenian territories. Basically, if Azerbaijan physically opens a corridor to Nakhichevan based on the international principle of access to open borders, then Pashinyan will have to sit down for negotiations again, start explaining, hand over entire regions of Armenia, and sign some papers, and then Aliyev will make claims regarding gold mines, which were developed in the Azerbaijani territory by the Armenian military and businessmen for many years. He will count all the losses and again make claims against Armenia.

Then suddenly the Armenian border guards will shoot, and the Azerbaijani military will have to respond to it by simply occupying a few more regions of Armenia. Then Pashinyan will sit down at the negotiating table, somewhere in Florence, and sign another document that will finally put an end to this situation, and Azerbaijan will simply move forward. Therefore, if the Armenian people do not understand the importance of Russia’s mediation, Aliyev will explain it later,” the political expert concluded.