Putin Outlines Steps Regarding Nagorno-Karabakh at Request of European Council President

A phone conversation took place yesterday between European Council President Charles Michel and Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the statement released by the Kremlin's press service, a number of important issues related to the international situation were discussed, including the Nagorno-Karabakh issue. At the request of Charles Michel, the Russian president outlined the steps being taken regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, particularly in relation to the implementation of the trilateral statements signed on November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021, including the establishment of peaceful life and the restoration of economic and transportation links in the South Caucasus region.

It is noteworthy that the Russian side's statement mentions that "these issues will be discussed during the meeting of the Russian President, the President of Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, scheduled for November 26 in Sochi." Earlier, the Kremlin had already announced that a trilateral meeting in this format would take place in Sochi, dedicated to the first anniversary of the trilateral statement on the cessation of hostilities regarding Nagorno-Karabakh, signed on November 9, 2020.

If we look back further, the meeting between Putin, Pashinyan, and Aliyev was supposed to take place on November 9, the day the statement was signed, but it is now set for tomorrow. We will not delve into why that meeting did not happen, what occurred, etc. What is interesting to us is that literally one day before the upcoming meeting in Sochi, Charles Michel requests that the Russian president provide details on what steps are being taken regarding the implementation of the aforementioned two statements. What could this mean?

We have already written that the upcoming meeting between Pashinyan and Aliyev, scheduled for December 15 in Brussels under the framework of the Eastern Partnership summit, is not, in fact, favorable to the Russian side, and Moscow will do everything possible to undermine and discredit that meeting. Perhaps this is also why, following the cancellation of the November 9 meeting, Russia ensured that it would still occur before December 15.

All this is of course understood within the European Union, especially since Brussels has a good understanding of the unfavorable attitude Russia has towards the Eastern Partnership. Therefore, it can be said that during the phone conversation between Putin and Michel, which was purely within the European agenda, the head of the European Council requests that the Russian president provide him with details related to the Nagorno-Karabakh agenda, thereby acknowledging that in any case, 1. Russia’s priority in the Nagorno-Karabakh resolution is not contested; 2. He is trying to salvage the Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting within the framework of the Eastern Partnership summit; 3. Essentially once again legitimizing not only the November 9, 2020, but also the January 11, 2021, trilateral statement, thereby somewhat legitimizing the new architecture of the South Caucasus, which is still in the process of being formed.