OSCE has no effective levers to settle the Karabakh conflict, Russian expert said.
“I did not doubt that the Karabakh problem will be one of the top priorities for Kazakhstan as an OSCE co-chair, especially, because the president of Kazakhstan said this last year.”
The statement was made by Alexei Vlasov, general director of the Center for post-Soviet studies of the Moscow State University, while speaking to the Vestnik Kavkaza newspaper.
“Kazakh FM Kanat Saudabayev has already declared his plans to pay his first visit as the OSCE chairman-in-office to the South Caucasus countries in mid February. However, the statement and real practice are different things. OSCE has no effective levers to settle the Karabakh conflict. I imply the format that is expected, for example, in Baku and Yerevan. Certainly, they can hold a special conference on Karabakh, propose two of three special initiatives. But these steps cannot change the situation around Karabakh completely. It is possible to add to the initiatives of main moderators but impossible to play a significant role, I think. The case lies not in Kazakhstan but in extreme complication of the situation around Karabakh and the weakness of mechanisms of the organization itself,” the Russian political scientist said.
