Russian military expert:

"The conflicting parties - both Azerbaijan and Armenia - are actively preparing for a war. One should not think that one of the parties is calmly waiting for the rival to actively prepare for the war. Certainly, both are preparing", Russian military expert Pavel Felgengauer said in an interview with Azatutyun.

"The positive thing about this is that all the key players, which are somehow involved in the peace process, realize this perfectly and are trying to restrain the parties and reduce the intensity of emotions.  Both the European Union and Russia believe that everything should be done to rule out resumption of military action. If Russia deploys its peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone, it will certainly be good for Russia.  Russia has wanted that since 1994", the expert said.

He thinks that one cannot even speak of any peace agreement today, as neither of the parties is ready to make serious and essential concessions. According to the military expert, the mediators' role today is restricted to restraining the parties, because the conflict may develop into a large-scale regional war. "This cannot be admitted, and, fortunately, everybody realizes this", he said. In the meanwhile, he expressed concern over the comparative calmness in the conflict zone, thinking that the parties are simply trying not to make much noise.    

"As regards the Russian-Armenian and Russian-Azerbaijani relations, they are cloudless today. In the meanwhile, Russia still considers the region to be the zone of its historical influence and, of course, does its best to consolidate its positions and influence. But Moscow cannot choose either of the parties. Actually, the Russian base in Armenia lives on sufferance, because Armenia lacks a land border with Russia and even the air border cannot be opened; whereas for Armenia the Russian base is of strategic significance, taking into account the fact that it is on the border with Turkey", he said.