By Armen Gevorgyan

“We have not seen any re-affirmed commitment to peaceful settlement of conflicts in the communiqué issued by the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly, which certainly arouses our concern,” stated Andrey Nesterenko, an official representative of the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“Even on a cursory acquaintance with the communiqué one will come across a passage, which, in the ‘context of the situation in the region after the Russian-Georgian conflict’ reads about ‘unacceptability of any country’s actions aimed to destroy the territorial integrity of an independent state’, necessity for ‘mobilizing the international community in connection with aggressiveness in international relations’,” Nesterenko said, quoting the document.

The diplomat pointed out that Russia proposes considering the afore-quoted wordings in the context of the “bloody massacre” the Mikheil Saakashvili regime unleashed against South Ossetia. It is Georgia that took aggressive actions against civilians and Russian peace-makers, Nesterenko said. He pointed out that “it is that fact, as well as numerous human victims, rather than a Russian-Georgian conflict that should be talked about.”

Yesterday NEWS.am published an article on the communiqué issued by the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly in Tbilisi, Georgia. It is a deplorable fact, but, in presenting Russia’s position on the document, Mr. Nesterenko addressed only one aspect of the problem. The aggressive document is obviously the result of the efforts by not only the Georgian delegation, but also Azerbaijani delegates to the GUAM Parliamentary Assembly. Official Baku’s daily militant rhetoric leaves no doubts about that state not being committed to the principle of peaceful settlement of conflicts. Peace in the Caucasus does not meet the interests of Ukraine either – that state supplies weapons to both Azerbaijan and Georgia. So the Russian official should have “spoken out” instead of confining himself to the Georgian-Russian agenda.

We would remind the reader of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s empty signature to the Maindorf declaration – a day after he signed the declaration he stated his readiness to settle the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in a military way. The document, which was signed due to RF President Dmitry Medvedev’s efforts, stipulates quite the opposite approach.

Moscow, however, cannot interpret GUAM’s aggressiveness only as a result of Georgia’s aggressive behavior. It should be remembered that, when speaking about the region, GUAM implies the Nagorno-Karabakh and Transdniestrian conflicts (Moldova being a GUAM member). Russia cannot expect anything different from this organization established and sponsored by the West. And, when signing partnership agreements in Baku, RF President Dmitry Medvedev should think for a moment about the next document Azerbaijan’s representative may sign at GUAM’s next forum. Of course, it may happen only if the vain hope to “get to” the Apsheron gas has not yet overshadowed Russia’s real politico-military interests in the Transcaucasus.