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On March 12 a meeting between President of Armenia Serge Sargsyan
and President of Russia Vladimir Putin will take place in Moscow.
It is the first official visit abroad by the Armenian President after the elections of February 18.
During the meeting the leaders of the two states will discuss Russian-Armenian relations,
including cooperation in the economic, political, and humanitarian spheres.
It is expected that the opening of the airport in Khojaly will be discussed.
It could heat the atmosphere of Azerbaijani-Armenian relations even more.
Ahead of the visit we decided to ask Russian experts about their views on the issue.
Andrei Areshev, scientist of the Political and Scientific Studies Institute of the Black-and-Caspian Seas Region
Of course the presidents of the two countries have always a lot to discuss.
The Republic of Armenia is situated in a difficult situation at the moment.
In addition to the difficult socio-economic situation, there are protests headed by Raffi Hovannisyan,
the silver medallist of the presidential elections.
However, they are fading away.
The foreign political agenda is significantly represented in the Russian-Armenian dialogue.
We know that a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
is a priority for Armenian diplomacy and a difficult task.
This task cannot be resolved without close ties with Russia and the other co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
I don’t think a possible revival of using the airport in Nagorno-Karabakh
will be discussed directly in the bilateral negotiations, because it is a specific issue.
However, this issue is a significant one, because we can see a serious escalation of tension,
first of all, by Azerbaijan.
I think that Russia can state its position on a possible revival of flights
between Yerevan and Stepanakert, but the rumours and guesses by the mass media are far from truthful, I think.
These questions are much more complicated,
as the whole set of issues is connected with a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Russia’s opinion plays a significant role in this process.
At the same time, there are other factors which influence the dynamics of events in the South Caucasus.
Alexei Vlasov, general director of the political scientific center North-South
Many Armenian experts expect serious results from the point of view of economic cooperation
between Russia and Armenia and in the context of the new reality of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
Regarding the economy, there are clear signs – Armenia will ask for a gas discount,
while Russia will touch on cooperation between Yerevan and the Eurasian integration project.
It is difficult to predict results,
but major Armenian mass media are discussing that the gas discount question
will depend on a composition of the future government of Armenia
– whether Tigran Sarkisyan remains in the Premier’s chair or not.
The rumours which often appear in the Armenian information field
won't be found true or false after the end of the talks, but after a Cabinet is formed.
As for security, some Armenian editorials expect that Vladimir Putin
will state his position on the opening of an international airport in Khojaly.
This aspect disturbs Baku of course, as well as the mediators,
who have stated many times that the international airport issue
is not a problem which can be resolved by one side only.
Even though this issue is not clear,
Serge Sargsyan can speak about Khojaly at the negotiations with his Russian partner.
I believe that Vladimir Putin is hardly likely to state the Russian position
on the international airport in Khojaly, at least not one that Armenian officials want to hear.
The peace is too fragile, the issue is too acute, and Russia,
which is one of Karabakh mediators, is unlikely to shift its responsibility from one pan to another.
It will try to maintain a balanced position.
In a few hours we will see the first details of the talks between Vladimir Putin and Serge Sargsyan.
This time they attracted great attention.