Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s attempts to broker an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan based on the principles proposed by the OSCE Minsk Group have so far been unsuccessful, reads the report on Karabakh issued by London-based the International Institute For Strategic Studies.

The report contains basic principles discussed by the OSCE Minsk Group:

-  Armenia’s withdrawal from the seven territories surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh;

-  the return of displaced Azeris into these areas and gradually into Nagorno-Karabakh itself;

-  the deployment of an international peacekeeping force to prevent new inter-communal violence; and

-  a referendum on Nagorno-Karabakh’s status at a later date.

The experts point out new initiatives of Moscow and Baku.

“In the absence of progress on a political solution, Moscow has decided to upgrade its military ties not only with Armenia, but also with Azerbaijan. Following reciprocal visits by the two countries’ defence ministers, Russian newspaper Vedomosti reported in July that Moscow and Baku had agreed on the sale of two batteries of Russian S-300 air-defence systems. This would be the first major sale of Russian advanced weapons to Azerbaijan. Rosoboronexport, Russia’s arms sale agency, denied that it had signed any such contract. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made no denial in an interview with Armenian TV on 18 August,” the report says.

The experts recall that Russia and Azerbaijan have also been strengthening economic and political ties. Azerbaijan is becoming a key regional partner for Russia and is playing an important role in the energy-dominated geopolitics of the Caspian region.

According to the report, Azerbaijani politicians reached out to Moscow after Turkey, Azerbaijan’s closest ally, agreed to normalize relations with Armenia despite Baku’s  strong opposition. “President Aliyev, an alumnus of the Moscow Institute of International Relations, moved to develop closer political ties with both Medvedev and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Azerbaijan sees the expansion of ties with Moscow as the key instrument in weakening Russia’s security alliance with Armenia, and hence in applying additional pressure on Yerevan to agree to withdraw from the ‘occupied territories’,” the report reads.