Former Russian co-chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group Vladimir Kazimirov doesn’t have any expectations for the Armenian-Azeri presidents’ meeting to take place on February 10-11 in the Rambuye suburb of Paris. He said this during his interview given to “Arm Info”. “There are means to resolve the conflict in 2006, however, I don’t think Kocharyan or Aliev will use those means”, he said, “it is necessary to have political will and do a great job inside the society so that the society realizes the necessity of mutual compromises”.
He considers the recommendations of the International Crisis Group “inadequate and directive”, which leads the “spoiled lobbying of EU interests”. “It is pointless to include a clause in the dual-community aspect in the report. The conflict of the Armenians of Karabagh was with Baku and not as much as with the Azeri community of Karbagh. On the other hand it is useful to have an additional referendum to determine the status of Karabagh and prohibition of military force”, he said. Kazimirov also referred to peacekeepers. “First it is necessary to agree on crucial issues and then think about the deployment of peacekeepers”. The former Russian co-chairman thinks that it was not a good idea to exclude Karabagh from the negotiation process. Armenian diplomats made the mistake. However, he hopes that it will be possible to reach a climax of the conflict in approximately 2010.