After the visit of Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov to Armenia the politicians of Armenia’s governmental team are in exhilaration. One by one they exclaim sounds of joy by saying that not only did Vladimir Putin after the meeting with Turkey’s prime minister Erdogan announce that the settlement of the Turkish-Armenian relations and the NKR conflict in a “single basket” is wrong but also Lavrov confirmed this one more time in Yerevan. That’s it. Russia will never betray its strategic partner for the sake of its economic interests and the NKR won’t be sacrificed for Turkey. Most probably in the West they thought that the Armenian authorities have taken the words of Putin too seriously and yesterday they indirectly responded to that exhilaration. “Although Russia has the greatest potential for reaching an agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, its mediator possibilities are not unlimited,” said the Europe Program Director at International Crisis Group Sabine Freiser. Although the latter represents a non-governmental organization she as a rule expresses the approach of the western super powers regarding the regional developments and specifically the NKR conflict. "Russia’s ability to actually push through an agreement is perhaps the strongest among all international players, but remains limited because it is only when the two countries and the two societies are ready to accept these basic principles that there would be an agreement," she said. "So, the principles cannot be forced upon Armenia and Azerbaijan from Russia or from the US, the societies also need to agree to them themselves," Freiser said. More simply said, this is a warning to the Armenian government. If Armenia steps down from its international obligations it cannot rely on Russia’s support.
