The Armenian leadership understands very well that Russia is not willing to interfere in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Because the Russian leadership is aware that Azerbaijan has no territorial claims against Armenia, and the country wants to liberate its occupied territories, Sergei Markov, political analyst, director of the Russian Institute of Political Studies, told on Thursday.
He said that the formula that was proposed at the Kazan meeting and agreed by the OSCE Minsk Group’s co-chairs will be applied in the near future.
“According to the formula, Armenia will first return to Azerbaijan the territories it has occupied, and Azerbaijani IDPs will be settled there,” Markov said. “Then the return of other two occupied districts and Nagorno-Karabakh will be considered. These are the basic principles of this formula proposed in Kazan during the presidency of Dmitry Medvedev.”
These areas will be demilitarized in order to ensure peace in the region. Instead, Azerbaijan will lift its blockades of Armenia, the Russian political analyst added.
Markov stressed that five occupied districts will be returned to Azerbaijan by the end of this year.
“The negotiations on the return of Nagorno-Karabakh and the resettlement of the Azerbaijani population there will begin later. This process will take a long time. As I have noted, five occupied districts will be returned to Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani families will return to their homes. The return of the remaining two districts and Nagorno-Karabakh during this period is not possible,” he said.
Five occupied districts to be returned to Azerbaijan by end of 2016 - Russian analyst
14 April 2016
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