Radar Armenia's interlocutor is political scientist Armen Vardanyan.

- Against the background of the escalation in Artsakh, Russia and the USA once again declare they are concerned about the situation. Considering the active course of negotiations, what is Azerbaijan trying to show with these steps?

- It is evident that Azerbaijan tries to aggravate the situation on the front line every time before the negotiations. By causing significant human and material damage to the Armenian side, he is trying to get him to act from a more oppressive position at the negotiation table to ensure tremendous pressure on Armenia and achieve the desired result. This is a long-standing practice in Azerbaijan. This time was no exception; during the negotiations, four people died in Artsakh; of course, Azerbaijan is trying to achieve the maximum. His goal is that the Armenian side does not try to raise issues in any issue, where decisions that are not in the interests of Azerbaijan can be taken. In other words, he wants to get everything, so there is a zero-sum game for Armenia, and the Armenian side does not gain anything due to the negotiations.

- The Washington negotiations have ended. What do you think about this round of negotiations, considering the developments in Artsakh?

- I think the negotiations will fail because there are fundamental issues where the Armenian side is trying to ensure the rights and security of the people of Artsakh. Azerbaijan categorically does not want to hear about them.

- The NA of Artsakh demanded to stop the negotiations. How do you interpret this statement, and what would their termination entail?

- I consider the statement of the National Assembly of Artsakh to be wrong. Not participating in the negotiations means giving Azerbaijan the legitimate right to unleash a new war with more long-term and severe consequences. Therefore, it is right to go to the negotiations, even if we have no result. Any such platform should be used to ensure pressure on Azerbaijan. Negotiations are always necessary; not negotiating will lead to war, and Armenia is not ready for that, at least at this stage.

- In the current situation, how likely is the Baku-Stepanakert dialogue?

- In this regard, there is severe pressure on Azerbaijan, also from the American side. By the way, understanding this very well, the Russian side is trying to manipulate so that the initiative of the negotiation process, the thread of the conflict is always in their hands, and no country, especially the Western one, is involved in the negotiation process. I should also mention that the American side is putting severe pressure so that Azerbaijan starts direct negotiations with the authorities of Artsakh; although not political negotiations, the parties sit down and discuss various issues. The format of the secret negotiations was also discussed so that it would not be made public, and Stepanakert and Baku would sit at the negotiating table.

- What to expect from the Russian side, taking into account that the Washington negotiations have come to an end?

- The Russian side will always try to pull chestnuts out of the fire with either Armenia or Azerbaijan as long as the Washington negotiations are going on. By the way, Azerbaijan is happily not participating. Together with the Russian side, there will be provocations against the Armenian population in Artsakh. You see, these negotiations were supposed to take place about a month ago, but Azerbaijan postponed them at the last moment. The Washington negotiations are not to their liking. The negotiations in Moscow are close to their hearts because they can quickly get along with the Russian authorities. There is no pressure on the Russian platform either, unlike the negotiations on the American platform, where the issue of the rights of the people of Artsakh is also raised before Azerbaijan.

Hayk Magoyan