Views from Moscow: There is no Russian plan of ceding 5 Karabakh regions to Azerbaijan

There is no Russian plan of ceding 5 Karabakh regions to Azerbaijan, Alexander Krylov, Head of the Center of Post-Soviet Studies at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, told ArmInfo.

"In fact, the negotiation process has faced a stalemate. In this light, the negotiators comprehend that there is no prospect for a peaceful solution within the visible future, so they try to keep the situation under control and prevent a new war. They are simply trying to buy time in anticipation of a change in the current stalemate that would create new

opportunities for a peaceful or military resolution of the conflict," he said.
According to Krylov, what can change the balance of forces around Karabakh, is expansion of the activity of IS and similar organizations into the territory of the region, destabilization of the situation in the east of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. The political analyst believes that in case of a power change in Armenia and a change of its course towards Euro-Atlantic one, the destabilization of Armenia will not meet Russia's interests.

Referring to diplomatic sources, Ani Armenian Analytical Center has published the so-called Putin Plan on Karabakh. The plan is rather close to the stage-by-stage settlement scheme of 1997 and consists of two major packages: 1) the Armenian forces are withdrawn from 5 regions - Aghdam Fizouli, Jebrail, Zangelan, and Kubatlu. 2) Nagorno Karabakh receives a firm intermediate status not implying a return to Azerbaijan's territory or an independent status within the visible future. The referendum for the implementation of the Karabakh people's right to the self-determination, which is stipulated by the Madrid and Kazan documents, is postponed for an indefinite period of time.