Armenian News-NEWS.am presents an excerpt from an article by analyst Eugene Kogan of Center for International and European Studies.

The article was published in the official website of the International Relations and Security Network. 

“The unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict remains the only leverage that Russia can use against Azerbaijan in order to keep the latter from unfriendly actions. These ‘unfriendly actions’ refer to the desire of Azerbaijan for closer cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and the European Union (EU), something that goes against the interests of Russia.

“The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict allows Moscow to keep Armenia and Azerbaijan, to varying degrees, in its orbit of influence and, as a result, deters the other parties such as Turkey and the United States (US) from engaging in conflict resolution.

“As long as Moscow maintains the position of status quo and is unwilling to change its stance there will be no resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. [But] Moscow may change its position if and when it can gain something substantial from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution; such as for instance, extra leverage over the political and economic interests of Azerbaijan.”