The Diplomat: Karabakh another thorn in Putin’s side

The Diplomat: Karabakh another thorn in Putin’s side

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) still remains a few months from formalization, but a growing number of questions are being asked about the group’s growth and direction continue. Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova have oriented toward Brussels, while Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan continue to show scant interest in the Moscow-led grouping. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan stand as the only legitimate candidates for enlargement, with Tajikistan consciously remaining at a distance, an article on The Diplomat says.

“As such, instead of recruiting more states to join the would-be “geopolitical pole,” Moscow has turned toward another avenue for expansion: the unrecognized statelets dotting the post-Soviet landscape. While Transdnistria and South Ossetia have been largely quiet on the matter, Abkhazian politicians have made noises about joining the EEU. Likewise, representatives from “Novorossiya” – the fanciful name Russian-led separatists have given themselves in Ukraine – say they intend to join the union,” the article says.

However, it says, before Russia can rope these frozen conflicts further into Moscow’s fold, it must deal with a relatively unlikely obstacle – and it will have to deal with it quickly.

“During the May 29 summit in Astana, which saw the heads of Kazakhstan, Russia and Belarus sign the formal EEU documents, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev abruptly blocked Armenia’s planned promotion to full membership in the union. Citing a letter from Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, Nazarbayev noted opposition to the proposal to accede Nagorno Karabakh along with Armenia. Only states within their UN-recognized borders were to be allowed in, added Nazarbayev (Crimea notwithstanding, for reasons that remain unexplained),” the article notes.

With only a few days remaining until the Oct 10 proposed promotion of Armenia to full membership, the question becomes all the more pressing, it says.

The author reminds of the reports which alleged that Armenia had swallowed Kazakhstan’s resistance and would be leaving Nagorno Karabakh outside the EEU’s customs borders. According to one local NGO, numerous customs checkpoints were planned.

However, the article emphasizes, Nagorno Karabakh officials pushed back at the reports.

“Establishment of [a] customs checkpoint, necessitating border control by defense guards, is impossible, since [it] isn’t technically feasible to maintain control over the scores of roadways connecting Karabakh with Armenia,” Araik Harutyunyan, the Prime Minister of Nagorno Karabakh, said.

With only a few days until Armenia formally joins, the question on Nagorno Karabakh still stands – another thorn in Putin’s side, another prick deflating the EEU’s proposed geopolitical pull, the article says.

“Like Kyrgyzstan, Armenia has already experienced numerous, still-unexplained delays over the summer in the move toward accession; it is entirely possible Moscow may be forced to swallow another delay. Dealing with statelets may turn out to be just as tough as appealing to the states Putin believes remain in Russia’s sphere of influence,” it concludes.

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