Russia's attempt to give two-thirds of Arstakh territories to Azerbaijan is explained by the geopolitical competition with Turkey for the Turkic world, ex-foreign minister of the NKR, independent analyst Arman Melikyan has told ArmInfo.
"It is certainly hard for an ordinary Armenian to understand why Moscow seeks to restore full-fledged military and political presence in Azerbaijan by infringing the interests of its only strategic ally in the South Caucasus - Armenia. However, after the failure of the Russian policy in Georgia and Ukraine, last year the Kremlin came across another threat. The downed Russian fighter in Syria actually marked the beginning of the Ankara-Moscow fight for the Turkic world", he says.
The analyst thinks that Russia has not enough ideological or political-economic resources to neutralize the growth of the Turkish influence on Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, as well as on the Northern Caucasus, Tatarstan, Bashkorkostan and other Turkic-populated regions of Russia.
Melikyan thinks that the presidents of some post-Soviet countries are still the foothold of Russia. After they leave power, Moscow will have no more allies capable to resist the Turkish political and ideological expansion.
In this light, he believes that Moscow hopes to block the entry of dangerous trends into Central Asia, Northern Caucasus and the Volga region by infringing the Armenian interests. However, this will postpone the failure of the Russian policy in the Caucasus and Central Asia for 1.5-2 years, he says.