World’s general normalization will have beneficial effect on South Caucasus — Konstantin Tasits

Speaking with Alpha News, Konstantin Tasits, Russian political scientist and expert on the South Caucasus, commented on the start of the negotiation process between the United States and Russia and the possible impact of these negotiations on the South Caucasus region.

“The start of the dialogue between the leaders of the United States and Russia is encouraging because it is based on an equal character, and the very fact of communication and listening to points of view opens a window of opportunity for a diplomatic or political resolution to the conflict in Ukraine,” the expert said.

According to Tasits, although the South Caucasus is not among the political priorities of the Trump administration, the general normalization of conflicts in the world will have a positive impact on the region.

“First of all, we see that the South Caucasus is not among the priorities for the United States. That is, in this sense, there will be no such direct impact yet. We see that Trump primarily pays attention to the Ukrainian conflict and the situation in the Middle East. He probably has some ideas about building relations with China and solving the Taiwan problem.

As for the South Caucasus, there are no initiatives or sudden movements yet, but it is obvious that some kind of general normalization should have a beneficial effect. That is, any conflicts or contradictions that spread to all regions should be mitigated. This should allow, among other things, to resolve some South Caucasian problems,” he told Alpha News.

According to the expert, Iran will be one of the key issues for Donald Trump, and the Caucasian republics may be involved in resolving the situation around Iran.

“It seems to me that in relations with Iran, Trump will first try to conclude some kind of profitable deal from his point of view. In other words, it will be a bilateral format of relations. If nothing comes of it, there are risks that he will increase pressure on Iran. And, therefore, he will be interested in isolating Iran in the South Caucasus. In this regard, he will most likely encourage the South Caucasian republics to weaken their ties with Iran,” Konstantin Tasits concluded.