Radar Armenia's interlocutor is political scientist Davit Stepanyan.
- Vladimir Putin invited Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev to Russia. As the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry noted, they will discuss the entire range of trilateral and bilateral issues. What expectations can be had from this meeting?
- I have no positive expectations from that meeting because today, Russia only demands from Armenia, and it seems they will not take any forward steps. We must understand well that the leader of our country will be under a lot of pressure during that meeting—forces, first of all, by Putin. Aliyev will play the role of second fiddle here. In addition to this, several demands will be presented regarding the implementation of the document of November 9, as imagined in Russia, with a corridor logic. I think there will be a demand to enter the union state and refuse the moderation of the West regarding regulating Armenian-Azerbaijani relations.
- After the quadrilateral meeting in Prague, a statement was signed. According to you, will the Russian Federation also try to sign a more substantive document?
- Russia will make this attempt. Putin will try to push forward some documents. I hope we will not sign that document because it does not contain anything good for us, taking into account the situational logic by which the Russian Federation, an ally of Turkey and Azerbaijan, is acting today. Turkey and Azerbaijan's interests coincide with Russia's, while claims of Armenia are in different domains. So, Armenia cannot reach any joint agreement with Russia and Azerbaijan a priori today. And this is not our position but that of Russia, which today has sided with Azerbaijan and is not a moderator or a mediator but a direct participant in the process.
- The Russian Federation does not hide that it is worried about the activation of the West in the South Caucasus, particularly in Armenia. What is the tendency to speak about this? To whom and what does Moscow understand?
- The Russian anxiety is appropriate because Russia is increasingly losing its influence in Armenia and has long since lost it in Georgia and Azerbaijan. Armenia was the last resort for Russia. Russia has lost its power due to its policy, which has been implemented primarily in the previous two years towards Armenia. The tendency to speak about this is that they are again trying to pressure Armenia. The Russians, as usual, forget their famous saying: "You won't be forced to be nice," and try to keep their presence here "by force" by continuing to influence, demand, and pressure us in the political and economic sphere. And once again, they will sell us the way they sold us 100 years ago. There is nothing new here, Russian policy has not changed, and we cannot expect it to change shortly.
Hayk Magoyan
