Karabakh meeting on the Neva: Matthew Bryza's opinion

The trilateral meeting of the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, which was held in St. Petersburg, improved the mood between the conflicting parties, the former US Assistant Secretary for the South Caucasus, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza, said, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, Fuad Safarov.

"The meetings among the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia appear to have improved the mood between the two South Caucasus presidents and restored the central role of the OSCE’s Minsk Group in future talks among both the presidents and their foreign ministers.  Additionally, Presidents Aliyev and Sargsyan pledged at St. Petersburg to implement the measures to reduce military tension along the line of contact, which they agreed in their meeting in Vienna on May 16, and to work toward building the atmosphere required to resume negotiations on a political settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict," the US diplomat recalled.
 
At the same time, according to him, no real steps to resolve the conflict were agreed. "These are all positive developments with regard to the general mood of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but do not mark substantive achievements in moving toward settlement of the conflict.  Still, the St. Petersburg meeting does appear to have moved the parties to a safer and more stable situation," Bryza stressed.
 
The former US Assistant Secretary for the South Caucasus added that Russia held the meeting in order to strengthen the leading role in the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement. "President Putin’s motivation appears to be to convey a signal — especially to EU leaders weighing continued sanctions against Moscow — that Russia is trying to play the role of peacemaker in the South Caucasus, even as it continues to be a war-maker in Ukraine," he explained.