Putin appears as a mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan

After talks in Washington and Brussels, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan and President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met on Thursday, May 25, in Moscow under the auspices of Vladimir Putin to make progress. Peace talks between the two South Caucasus nations, which are in conflict over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. discussions Focused on restoring transport between the two countries. The head of the Kremlin claimed that there was a disagreement between Baku and Yerevan on this issue “Pure Tech” and “Overcome”. Mr. Pashinyan said that both sides “They are making good progress in normalizing their relations based on mutual recognition of territorial integrity”. No agreement was reached after the meeting.

With this meeting, Russia, weakened by the war in Ukraine, intends to show that it maintains its influence in the region and does not intend to abandon the United States and the European Union (EU), which are very invested in parallel initiatives to reach an agreement. . “The most surprising thing is the accidental rapprochement between Westerners and Russia [sur ce dossier], Despite the war in Ukraine, Richard Giragosian, director of the research center of the Yerevan Regional Studies Center, notes. But Moscow has definitely lost the diplomatic initiative, and neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan want Putin to win. »

Armenia, a traditional Russian ally, is particularly resentful of Moscow, which it criticizes for its passivity in the face of repeated attacks in Baku. Ahead of the meeting, Pashinyan again on Monday raised the possibility of his country withdrawing from the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a Moscow-dominated military alliance.

tense context

The members of the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan already met in Washington in early May. The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, assessed that there was a peace agreement “in mind”. On May 14, negotiations continued in Brussels – at the highest level – under the auspices of the European Union. This was announced by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel “progress”. A new meeting is expected on the 1st^Eh In June, in Chisinau (Moldova), between Mr. Pashinyan and Mr. Aliyev, mediated by Emmanuel Macron and Charles Michel.

These multiple talks are taking place in a tense context between the two countries, which waged a new war in the fall of 2020 over the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is mainly populated by Armenians. The ceasefire, which was signed on November 9, 2020 under the watch of Moscow but is regularly violated, proved a crushing defeat for Armenia and saw the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in the region. Since May 2021, the conflict has spread inside Armenia itself, with regular clashes on the border, although the presence of the EU civilian mission in Armenia since February has brought some stability back. Azerbaijani troops regularly make incursions into the territory of Armenia, of which they now occupy more than 50 square kilometers.