Day: March 8, 2023

Louis Bono, the US State Department's chief adviser on Caucasus negotiations, has concluded his visit to the region. He met with President Ilham Aliyev in Baku and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan and exchanged views. After finishing the meetings, Bono expressed the opinion that "we want Azerbaijan and Armenia to prepare the text of the peace treaty themselves." Bono believes that a positive result will be achieved as a result of direct dialogue: "Because any long-term, sustainable and balanced peace is possible only with the efforts of both sides."

Washington, in the language of Bono, proposed to expand the dialogue between Baku and Yerevan without intermediaries. There are currently 3 mediators. This is Moscow, Brussels and Washington. Negotiations have been going on for two years in different formats, but there is no result. Recent history shows that direct negotiations have not resulted in short-term and long-term solutions to various conflicts. Mostly impartial mediators play an important role in conflict resolution. For example, the tension between Serbia and Kosovo has been going on for years. Direct contacts were unsuccessful. Between these two, there are two main mediators - Washington and Brussels. Currently, both Kosovo and Serbia are on the verge of agreeing to the EU settlement plan. If there is peace, both of them will become members of the European Union.

Nevertheless, the American diplomat does not see any harm in direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Both sides can form a permanent working group and that group can discuss various issues on a permanent basis in Tbilisi. This can have a positive effect on the overall result.

The special representative of the European Union for the South Caucasus, Toivo Klaar, in his interview with the "APA" agency, touched on a number of issues, and it is necessary to highlight two of them.

First, the representative of the European Union said that the idea of ensuring transparency about what is transported on the Lachin road is completely legitimate: "We do not want products that increase the tension on the Lachin road to be transported, used for any military or illegal purposes. "Transparency is absolutely legal." Louis Bono, the chief advisor of the US State Department on Caucasus negotiations, expressed almost the same opinion after the meeting with Ilham Aliyev in Baku. In other words, Brussels and Washington do not object to the establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin road of Azerbaijan, they consider it a natural right of Azerbaijan.

Secondly, the representative of the European Union gave a positive answer to the question "Do you have contact with Russian officials regarding the process in the Caucasus?" , I have also discussed this. In other words, there are contacts."

Why did Klaar's answer attract attention? Because Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his spokesperson Maria Zakharova are constantly expressing opinions such as "The European Union is engaged in mysterious activities in the South Caucasus" and "Brussels wants to suppress Russia in the region". However, it can be understood from Klaar's words that the European Union regularly informs Moscow about its mediation between Azerbaijan and Armenia, despite imposing strict sanctions against Russia for waging an aggressive war against Ukraine. Lavrov and Zakharova have not spoken a single sentence about Brussels' contacts with them regarding this issue.