Expert predicts Russia’s inactivity in South Caucasus under Putin’s ruleApril 3, 2012 - 15:29 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Political scientist Hrant Melik-Shahnazaryan said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Armenia was most likely linked to past presidential elections in Russia. Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan on April 3, Melik-Shahnazaryan said that in addition to the 20th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic ties between Armenia and Russia, Lavrov's visit also aimed to collect information on stance of states in both South Caucasus and Middle Asia. In addition to Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russian FM is going to visit some Middle Asian countries as well. The expert believes that during Vladimir Putin’s presidency, Russia will mainly focus on foreign policy and social-economic reforms because currently it faces huge public discontent. Russia will not actively engage in foreign policy, particularly in Caucasus, mostly aiming to maintain the status-quo and the peace process of Karabakh conflict resolution. Melik-Shahnazaryan emphasized that after U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and China’s strengthened position in Middle Asia, Russia will face far fewer problems. Top stories The Cabinet of Ministers decided on Thursday, November 9 to allocated AMD 120 million to arrange the gathering. Michael Roth believes sanctions must be put on the table after Baku‘s ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh. The Yerevan City Council has elected Tigran Avniyan from the ruling Civil Contract as the mayor of the Armenian capital. The Armenian Parliament on Tuesday, October 3 voted to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |