"I do not believe that the U.S. or Russia can resolve these problems on their own," former adviser on national security to the Jimmy Carter Administration and well-known U.S. political expert and professor at the John Hopkins University Zbigniew Brzezinski told Trend News in a an exclusive interview via telephone from Washington.
There are two unresolved conflicts in the South Caucasus. One is between Armenia and Azerbaijan due to Armenia's territorial claims to Nagorno-Karabakh and the conflict that recently erupted in Georgia after Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia. Moreover, the Armenia-Turkey diplomatic relations have been severed due to Armenia's anti-Turkey 'Armenian genocide' campaign and occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani lands.
Brzezinski believes that the countries directly involved in the conflicts have the capacity to either move towards a compromise or insist on the status quo for one reason or another. He said it does not mean that they can resolve conflicts themselves, but attitude of the involved countries to the process of the conflict resolution is important.
"Their attitude and willingness to reach a compromise is ultimately a very important element in this very complicated process," he said. "So one should not overestimate the degree to which a constructive resolution of the so-called frozen conflicts depends on the U.S. or Russia."
Moscow is directly involved in the conflict in Georgia, but that does not necessarily give it the capacity to resolve so-called frozen conflicts, Brzezinski said. Moscow contributed to resolving these conflicts through diplomatic initiatives and by emphasizing established international principles regarding territorial integrity and national sovereignty, he said.
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