If Azerbaijan decides to destroy Armenian aircrafts, it will find itself under a partial international isolation, historian Ivan Sukhov told Vesti.Az.

“Even if Azerbaijan were to hit but one plane, this would escalate the [Nagorno-]Karabakh conflict, where Russia might not openly assist Armenia, but it definitely will not assist the Azerbaijani party. Russia could even carry out combat operations in the north of Azerbaijan, arguing, for example, that Azerbaijani terrorists are infiltrating into Dagestan,” Sukhov noted.   

And with respect to a query as to whether the West might guarantee to Azerbaijan the return of its lands if it decides to assist the West in a war against Iran, Ivan Sukhov responded as follows:  

“If such war were to start, it would destabilize the situation in the South Caucasus in catastrophic fashion. The West would hardly be capable of guaranteeing the return of Karabakh and the adjacent territories [to Azerbaijan] because it has its interests in Armenia.

“Theoretically, Turkey could have been a guarantor for the return of the territories, but neither Russia nor the EU nor the US would wish for already-strengthening Turkey to further strengthen. I fear that should Azerbaijan assist the West, it would face the threat of collapse.”