Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev’s statement with respect to the Azerbaijanis’ “return” to Yerevan could destabilize the region, and it causes unnecessary tension, Russian analyst Stanislav Tarasov told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He added that the Russian Foreign Ministry also has expressed concern over Aliyev’s most recent statements.

“If we look at all the statements that have been made over these years, it becomes apparent that they are certain tools for the implementation of certain plans,” explained the analyst. “And they can strike a very heavy blow to the [Nagorno-Karabakh conflict] negotiation process.”

At the same time, he said if such statements are made, they need to be implemented sooner or later. So, as per Tarasov, the first step that can be a signal for the Armenian side to this conflict would be Baku’s statement on withdrawing from the negotiation process, and which, in turn, could lead to the second step: war.

But, as the Russian analyst noted, this has not happened yet, and Azerbaijan, which frequently attempts to blackmail and threaten the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the Armenian side—especially with statements on withdrawing from the Karabakh peace process, is actually bluffing, and nothing more.