Prospects for resolution of Karabakh conflict doubtful: Russian expert

“I think it is not realistic,” Mikheyev said commenting on the idea of creating so-called Caucasian home, commonwealth of North and South Caucasus republics, intended to promote peace and stability in the region.

“Caucasus is divided by national boundaries. Often the Caucasus states openly feud with each other. In such circumstances, I see no possibility to implement such initiatives in the coming years. We must be realistic - the Caucasus has never in its history lived peacefully. Neither internally nor with their neighbors. Memories of relatively prosperous Soviet past mislead us. But in historical terms it was fairly short period,” Mikheyev said.

In a response to the question “Do not you think that in the example of the Karabakh conflict, Moscow can restore the image of peacemaker country undermined by the events of last August in the South Caucasus?” said the following: “I do not think that the point is who exactly is mediator. The main point is that Baku and Yerevan are not ready to make any serious concessions to each other and everybody expects that mediators to put pressure on the other and then we can settle everything without special concessions. This position seems to me a dead-end.”

He also commented on possibility of trying a military solution: “In the Caucasus, it is better refrain from using weapons for any reason, because the consequences would be “lasting” and “difficult to solve”.

/Day.Az/