Today.Az » Politics » Arif Yunusov describes Putin's statement as "lame joke"
07 February 2007 [21:15] - Today.Az
"Russian President Vladimir Putin's news conference clearly hinted on cooling in Azeri-Russian relations," said Arif Yunusov, the director of the department of conflictology at the institute of peace and democracy.
"Putin was rather restrained as regards Azerbaijan and poured compliments on Armenia. Several months ago his statements on Karabakh were different. Thus, we have got the following picture: Russia understands that with its rough actions it pushed Azerbaijan closer to the West. The gas blackmail has failed and Russia has received one more minus in form of Azerbaijan. So, if Russia loses Armenia, it will be a loud collapse of its foreign policy in the South Caucasus. Moscow is most likely to consolidate positions in Armenia and at the same time smooth policy towards Azerbaijan and Georgia," Yunusov said. When commenting on Vladimir Putin's wish to Armenians and Azeris "to reconstruct Aghdam, since its port was always popular in the former USSR," Yunusov said it looked like a lame joke that can be taken in different ways. "Leaders of many states often make foolish remarks during news conferences of the kind and Putin is not an exception," he said. "I suppose Putin wanted to take the train off but a top politician like him should understand that jokes on Karabakh conflict are inappropriate," Yunusov resumed, reports Day.Az. /PanARMENIAN.Net/
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