I don’t think there will be a serious retreat of the Azerbaijanis, and I don’t see the forces that can force them to retreat. This is what Director of the Caucasus Institute, political scientist Aleksandr Iskandaryan told TALK TIME, commenting on the recent statements that President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin made during his meeting with acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan.

According to Iskandaryan, Putin was first and foremost talking about the importance of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“I believe he was talking about the so-called unblocking of links. You see that the Russians don’t want a big war and want to see the border relatively stable. Apparently, the Russians are taking some actions. Negotiations are underway, and the final result will be the opportunity to make the Russian side responsible for the security issues in that sector of Armenia’s border, not the Armenian army. It seems that the Russians agree with this more or less,” Iskandaryan said, adding that, in this case, the interests of Moscow and Yerevan meet.

“The Russians don’t care whom this or that square kilometer of the border belongs to. The Russians don’t care who controls Sev Lake at all, be it Armenia, Karabakh or Azerbaijan. They’re interested in stability along the length of a certain line,” the political scientist said, adding that if Yerevan and some resources to exert pressure and present demands for defining the borders in its favor, it could be assumed that the interests would be take into consideration.