Karabakh conflict sides [Armenia and Azerbaijan] were stuck between peace and war, a senior associate in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment Thomas de Waal said in an interview with CivilNetTV.

Regarding the Mexico statement by the OSCE Minsk Group member-states presidents, the expert said that important is not the content but the symbolic nature of it. The statement was a means to remind the sides about the inadmissibility of war, the sides should come to an agreement in the conflict settlement. 

“The incidents on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border shadowed the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the South Caucasus. It is likely that one of the conflicting sides, difficult to say which one, attempted to attach attention to the Karabakh conflict and the incidents coincided with the high ranking visit, while Clinton was in the region to call for peace,” the expert said.

A viewpoint exists that great powers, including the States, Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran play chess with the South Caucasus countries. However, de Waal did not share the viewpoint, adding he agrees to its controversial one, claiming it is the regional states that manipulate the great powers having their interests.