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TWO MEN IN A BOAT
by Ivan Sukhov
Moscow News
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 12, 2011 Friday
Russia
PRESIDENTS DMITRY MEDVEDEV (RUSSIA) AND ILHAM ALIYEV (AZERBAIJAN)
MET IN SOCHI; Dmitry Medvedev and Ilham Aliyev discussed Karabakh
conflict resolution.
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
met in Sochi this Tuesday. It was their first meeting following the
Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian summit last month where no progress at
all had been made in the matter of the Karabakh conflict resolution.
No official statements were made after the negotiations in
Sochi, yesterday. Medvedev said before the talks, "Let us have a
straightforward discourse on what is to be done now and what turn the
events might take following our previous meeting in Kazan and other
analogous meetings."
A source within the Presidential Administration said that the
discourse had been straightforward indeed. The leaders did their
best to understand who or what was impairing the process of conflict
resolution.
The trilateral meeting in Kazan this July had been something expected
with anticipation in Yerevan, Baku, and Nagorno-Karabakh itself. It
was thought that a framework document on Karabakh conflict resolution
principles would be signed there. It would have become a crowning
accomplishment of Russian diplomacy and Medvedev himself. On the
other hand, this signing would have changed the status quo and that
could result in another outbreak of hostilities.
Skeptics had been correct to sneer at the expectations. No documents
were signed in Kazan. Baku put forth a whole number of new demands. At
some point all involved parties even feared that the trilateral format
might actually become history.
Fortunately, the latest developments and meetings in Sochi dispelled
these fears.
Medvedev emphasized in an interview several days ago, on the third
anniversary of the Russian-Georgian conflict, that however complicated
ethnic and territorial conflicts might be, even extended negotiations
were better than actual attempts to settle the matter by sheer
strength of arms. In fact, Medvedev said that he was talking about
Karabakh. His words caused a public outcry in Azerbaijan whose state
officials including Aliyev himself regularly remind whoever cares to
listen of their readiness to reconquer Karabakh.
Aliyev was quite non-aggressive in Sochi. "I'd like to thank you once
again for the efforts to settle the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh," he told the host. "We of Azerbaijan appreciate
what you have been doing." Aliyev called the Karabakh conflict the
main threat to regional security.
A source within the Kremlin said that the period of mutual
disappointment and frustration with each other seemed to be over.
Medvedev will meet with his Armenian counterpart Serj Sargsjan at the
informal summit of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization
in Astana (Kazakhstan) scheduled to begin on August 12.
by Ivan Sukhov
Moscow News
WPS Agency
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
August 12, 2011 Friday
Russia
PRESIDENTS DMITRY MEDVEDEV (RUSSIA) AND ILHAM ALIYEV (AZERBAIJAN)
MET IN SOCHI; Dmitry Medvedev and Ilham Aliyev discussed Karabakh
conflict resolution.
President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev and Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev
met in Sochi this Tuesday. It was their first meeting following the
Russian-Azerbaijani-Armenian summit last month where no progress at
all had been made in the matter of the Karabakh conflict resolution.
No official statements were made after the negotiations in
Sochi, yesterday. Medvedev said before the talks, "Let us have a
straightforward discourse on what is to be done now and what turn the
events might take following our previous meeting in Kazan and other
analogous meetings."
A source within the Presidential Administration said that the
discourse had been straightforward indeed. The leaders did their
best to understand who or what was impairing the process of conflict
resolution.
The trilateral meeting in Kazan this July had been something expected
with anticipation in Yerevan, Baku, and Nagorno-Karabakh itself. It
was thought that a framework document on Karabakh conflict resolution
principles would be signed there. It would have become a crowning
accomplishment of Russian diplomacy and Medvedev himself. On the
other hand, this signing would have changed the status quo and that
could result in another outbreak of hostilities.
Skeptics had been correct to sneer at the expectations. No documents
were signed in Kazan. Baku put forth a whole number of new demands. At
some point all involved parties even feared that the trilateral format
might actually become history.
Fortunately, the latest developments and meetings in Sochi dispelled
these fears.
Medvedev emphasized in an interview several days ago, on the third
anniversary of the Russian-Georgian conflict, that however complicated
ethnic and territorial conflicts might be, even extended negotiations
were better than actual attempts to settle the matter by sheer
strength of arms. In fact, Medvedev said that he was talking about
Karabakh. His words caused a public outcry in Azerbaijan whose state
officials including Aliyev himself regularly remind whoever cares to
listen of their readiness to reconquer Karabakh.
Aliyev was quite non-aggressive in Sochi. "I'd like to thank you once
again for the efforts to settle the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict over
Nagorno-Karabakh," he told the host. "We of Azerbaijan appreciate
what you have been doing." Aliyev called the Karabakh conflict the
main threat to regional security.
A source within the Kremlin said that the period of mutual
disappointment and frustration with each other seemed to be over.
Medvedev will meet with his Armenian counterpart Serj Sargsjan at the
informal summit of the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization
in Astana (Kazakhstan) scheduled to begin on August 12.