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US expert Stephen Larrabee: â€œI wouldnâ€™t expect a dramatic breakthrough in Kazan meeting of the presidentsâ€

17 June 2011 07:56 (UTC +04:00)

â€œI think progress toward an agreement on the set of â€œbasic principlesâ€ negotiated 5 years ago is possible, but I would not expect a dramatic breakthroughâ€, Mr. Larrabee said in an interview with APAâ€™s Washington DC correspondent.

â€œ[Armenian President] Sarkisian will have to persuade his population that the return of Azeriâ€™s displaced during the six year war will not endanger the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh; because the framework agreement grants Nagorno-Karabakh an interim self-governing statusâ€, he said, reminding, Azerbaijan is not compromising its territorial integrity.

â€œThe OSCE has not been very effective so far, but it is hard to name any organization that would be more effectiveâ€, the analyst said answering the question about mediatorâ€™s role in the negotiation process.

According to him, in Washington, there are no major differences in the approach of the Bush and Obama Administration to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, â€œbut Obamaâ€™s effort to â€œresetâ€ relations with Russia has led to an improvement of US-Russian relations in several specific areas (missile defense, Afghanistan, Iran)â€.

Meanwhile, Mr. Larrabee remained skeptical about Russian sincerity over Karabakh issue. â€The mediation [over Nagorno-Karabakh] allows Russia to appear sincere and increases its ability to influence the conflict. But what counts are concrete results and so far there have been few resultsâ€, he said.