The fact that Russia does not intend on recognizing the independence of Karabakh is to be criticized and doesn’t comply with the interests of the society of Russia. This idea was announced by State Duma MP, head of CIS countries institution Constantine Zatoulin.
According to him the oratory that Karabakh and Abkhazia are not recognized countries is getting old already. He noted that the will of the countries to get independence is justified by their will to organize democratic elections and that from this point of view the approach of the Russian authorities was surprising. He said that the authorities of Russia didn’t have to be indifferent to Armenia and Azerbaijan because of the fact that Russia and Armenia cooperated within a regional security institution and that Azerbaijan wanted to integrate in other military alliances. According to Zatoulin Russia supported Armenia in connection with a lot of issues and the problem of Karabakh conflict could not be left apart. He also assured that Russia was going to advocate the negotiations till the parties didn’t reach an agreement which would comply not only with the interests of Armenia, but also with the interests of Karabakh. Mr. Zatoulin noted that the negotiation process was close to be brought up and that the potential solution was: “territories against independence”. But the solution is delayed because Azerbaijan expects to get money from oil and to solve this conflict by military means without recognizing the independence of Karabakh. He noted that he didn’t think this program would ever be realized. He said that the development of the Kosovo conflict regulation could have an influence on the negotiation process of the Karabakh conflict: “being familiar with the authorities of Armenia and Karabakh I think Armenia will try to take advantage of the Kosovo conflict regulation and to legalize the independence of Karabakh”. He also noted that after the experience of the ex-president of Armenia the existing authorities would not bring up any solutions which would be in contradiction with the interests of the society.