Radar Armenia‘s interlocutor is political scientist Davit Stepanyan.
– Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a state visit to Baku. How do you interpret this visit, especially at this active stage of the Russian-Ukrainian war?
– Putin’s visit to Baku does not contain any surprising elements. This is the logical continuation of Russian-Azerbaijani relations. They say: Turkey-Azerbaijan tandem, at the moment, at least in the political sense, Azerbaijan has a closer tandem with Russia than with Turkey. There is an obvious overlap of interests, which is not present with Turkey, because after the devastating earthquake, as a result of the economic collapse, Turkey was forced to have closer relations with the United States. So, nothing is surprising in this visit. Russia and Azerbaijan will continue strengthening their relations, and even the Russian-Ukrainian war does not play a role here. The same Azerbaijan has a conflict with Russia regarding the issue of Ukraine, but this will not affect either because the overlap of interests is obvious: economic interests, their joint position in the region, hostility towards Armenia, and other directions.
– The Russian President’s press service reported that Putin and Aliyev will discuss the issue of the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations in Baku. What stage will the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations enter after this visit? Do you foresee a positive shift?
– Have any positive expectations regarding Russia’s role in 2020? After September 27, it makes no sense. Russia cannot have a positive influence. His only role in this region is the division of the Armenian people, Armenia. Why do I say the Armenian people, because Artsakh was divided between Turks and Russians? The territory the Russians had declared theirs was handed over to Azerbaijan. Therefore, I cannot have an optimistic forecast for the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations because Russia’s role in those relations is only destructive. An elementary question: is Russia interested in the boundary between Armenia and Azerbaijan? Under no circumstances. If there was demarcation, Aliyev and, therefore, Putin would have lost the last reason to attack Armenia. Before that, the reason was that there was no border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Is Russia interested in re-opening communications between Armenia and Azerbaijan without its presence, without the FSB, as it wrote in the ominous piece of paper? Of course not. Russia is not interested in peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It is already known to everyone, and 1991 the policy was introduced. So, there cannot be any positive movement here. The leadership of Armenia will be so reasonable that it will completely exclude the role of Russia as a mediator or participant in the Armenian-Azerbaijani negotiations.
– What do you think? Wouldn’t it be right for Putin to come to Armenia on a state visit?
– Taking into account all the circumstances I talked about, Russia’s destructive role, that Russia is Armenia’s enemy and Azerbaijan’s ally, Putin has nothing to do in Armenia because he cannot come to Armenia with an agenda that will benefit Armenia. Putin should not come to Armenia at all.
