Differences between OSCE MG co-chairs make Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement unrealistic – Armenian expert

Prior to the Armenian-Azerbaijani presidential meeting in Paris, it is a fact the agreements reached at the Vienna meeting cannot be implemented, and the meeting in Saint Petersburg did not add anything to the Vienna meeting, Styopa Safaryan, chairman of the Armenian Institute of International and Security Affairs (AIISA), told reporters on Thursday.

The Saint Petersburg meeting revealed the previously unseen aspects, which exposed differences between the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs.

“We all know recent years’ attempts to introduce security mechanisms, while Russia is for deployment of peacekeepers, which is evidence of differences between the co-chairs. I think that the Vienna agreements would have been implemented but for the differences between the co-chairs,” Mr Safaryan said.

Any results in the peace process are unrealistic, much less so on the bass of the declassified Kazan document, and even Armenia is now objecting to it.

“If we discuss the conflicting parties’ willingness for mutual concessions amid differences between the co-chairs, it is clear that reaching a settlement is unrealistic,” Mr Safaryan said.

After the agreements fall to be implemented, Russia’s plans will be brought to the forefront.

“If the sides cannot reach a settlement by means of mutual concessions or agree on a status, Russia will propose deployment of peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and certain territorial concessions to Azerbaijan as a means of settling. In fact, it is a means of freezing the conflict making both the conflicting parties dependent. We are going to have a conflicting party, with peacekeepers deployed there,” Mr Safaryan said.

Armenia has no right to agree to such a plan, which is actually a threat to Armenia itself and to Nagorno-Karabakh.

Asked about the major expectation about the Paris meeting, Mr Safaryan said that it is a revision of the Vienna agreements.