Russian FM pays his regular visit to Armenia in unplanned period

PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov carried out his regular visit to Armenia in an unplanned period, Caucasus Institute Director, political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan finds.



The visit coincided, in time aspect, with RA CC decision on Armenia-Turkey protocols' conformability to Armenia's Constitution, he told today a news conference devoted to "Armenia-Russia relations: Summing up the results of RF Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Yerevan".



"This is a tense and interesting period. Russia dynamically develops ties with Turkey in energy and political-military sectors. In this respect, Mr. Lavrov's visit to Armenia is crucial to the entire region," the expert said.



For his part, political scientist Alexander Markarov proposed the following triangle: Turkish premier's visit to Moscow, Sergey Lavrov's visit to Armenia and Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan's visit to Moscow. All these visits, according to him, focused on regional problems, including Karabakh conflict settlement and Armenian-Turkish reconciliation.



Sergey Lavrov was off to Armenia on January 13-14. In a news conference held in Yerevan, he told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that the date of his visit had been appointed 1.5 months before his arrival while Turkish Premier's visit to Moscow had been planned just a few days before his departure to Russian capital.



The protocols aimed at normalization of bilateral ties and opening of the border between Armenia and Turkey were signed in Zurich by Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu on October 10, 2009, after a series of diplomatic talks held through Swiss mediation.

On January 12, 2010, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia found the protocols conformable to the country's Organic Law.

The Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR) is a de facto independent republic located in the South Caucasus, bordering by Azerbaijan to the north and east, Iran to the south, and Armenia to the west.



After the Soviet Union established control over the area, in 1923 it formed the Nagorno Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) within the Azerbaijan SSR. In the final years of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan launched an ethnic cleansing which resulted in the Karabakh War that was fought from 1991 to 1994.



Since the ceasefire in 1994, most of Nagorno Karabakh and several regions of Azerbaijan around it (the security zone) remain under the control of Nagorno Karabakh defense army.



Armenia and Azerbaijan have since been holding peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group.