The Americans have started a game on the Karabakh issue, but the question is whether the European Union and Russia will play with the rules of this game. 

Russian political scientist Alexander Skakov told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am commenting on Azerbaijan’s most recent remarks made against the US. 

In his words, on the one hand, the US is showing a “whip” to Azerbaijan—that is, it reproaches Azerbaijan for the human rights violations—and on the other hand, it shows a “cookie” to Azerbaijan—that is, with the speech by OSCE Minsk Group US Co-Chair James Warlick who, as per Skakov, placed the emphasis on returning Nagorno-Karabakh back to Azerbaijan.

“[Official] Baku is attempting to raise the stakes and show that it needs more from the Americans, that they agree to play with the rules of the game when they do more in the settlement of the Karabakh issue,” Skakov noted stressing, however, that the Americans are not alone in the Minsk Group.  

The analyst also expressed a view that the OSCE Minsk Group should somehow have responded to the nuances of the statement by the American side.