As fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces rages on the international community continues to exert pressure on both countries to ceasefire and return to the negotiating table. The foreign ministers of the two countries were in Moscow this week, and on Friday they are due in Washington to meet US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. The US has by and large taken a back seat in the current situation, not a surprise given the ongoing tense election campaign ahead of the poll in a few days time. Washington has supported the work in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group which it co-chairs together with France and Russia.
However by the weekend attention is likely to move back to Moscow where there are rumours that president Vladimir Putin will host a meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Putin has so far not been very active personally in the negotiations with the two countries, leaving most of the work to foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Putin may not want to be personally involved in negotiations unless there is a good chance of an agreement. A meeting with Putin will therefore be in itself a positive sign. As always however, the devil will be in the detail, and even the personality of Mr Putin may not be enough to untangle this difficult crisis.
source: commonspace.eu
