Thomas de Waal, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment, specializing in the South Caucasus region, believes Azerbaijan to be an interested party in recent escalations at the borders with Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

In an interview with the Armenian service of the Voice of America, the analyst expressed concern over the recent border clashes resulting in more victims than throughout the year 2013.

De Waal believes the tensions to be partially liked to some external factors: with situation in Ukraine shifting the focus of superpowers, Azerbaijan gets increasingly frustrated over lack of success in the OSCE Minsk Group’s mediating activities, while the spat between Russia and the West is further complicating cooperation in the MG framework.

In this context, the analyst also mentioned certain worrying incidents in Nakhichevan were the situation, until recently, was calm.

De Waal pointed out Azerbaijan’s interest in boosting the tensions, as the losing party usually tends to escalate the situation. At the same time, he blamed the Armenian side for provoking ceasefire violation on July 31, thus making both sides responsible.