SPECTRUM

The major priorities of the West in the South Caucasus are a preservation of the relative stability in each state in the region, a prevention of the escalation of conflicts, an uninterrupted supply of energy resources, attempts to control migration and to improve the level of human rights and the rule of law implementation.

However, the visit this month of Nicolas Sarkozy in the South Caucasus has caused great excitement in all three capitals. The first visit of the President of France to the region was in August, 2008; it aimed to find an appropriate framework for a resolution of the overt confrontation between Russia and Georgia. It resulted in the “Medvedev – Sarkozy Plan.”

- Dr. Novikova, in your opinion, whether a formula “the status in exchange for the territories,” supported by the OSCE Minsk Croup Co-Chairs, is still urgent, or not, taking into consideration that in the reintegrated territories there is already the Armenian population?

Dr. Gayane Novikova
Fragments of the interview to REGNUM Information Agency on June 22, 2011

REGNUM: On June 24, 2011, in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russian Federation) will be held a trilateral meeting of the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. The Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement is a key and only topic on its agenda. In your opinion, what can we expect from this meeting, taking into consideration that Presidents of Russia, the U.S. and France called their Armenian and Azerbaijani colleagues to conclude the work on the Basic principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement?

I am not an ecologist; I am not a member of the Green party. I am an ordinary citizen of Armenia and a resident of Yerevan. I never wrote about environmental problems. But all my life I live on Abovian Street, in one of the greenest parts of the city.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF SELF-DETERMINATION OF NATIONS BEYOND THE FRAMEWORKS OF DECOLONIZATION
Dr. Vladimir Vardanyan
March 20, 2011