CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VII (1, 2) Contemporary-Eurasia-3new | Page 126

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA
Even though the next Astrakhan trilateral meeting on October 29,
2010 between the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia had an
intention to strengthen confi dence-building measures and bolster the re-
gime of ceasefi re, it was not an exception and did not produce positive
results. 53 Eventually, the updated Madrid Principles entered into a fi nal
stage during the Kazan Summit in June 2011. Both the Armenian and the
Azerbaijani presidents had positive expectations from the Summit. In his
turn, Dmitry Medvedev believed that the NK confl ict is a unique strug-
gle that has big chances to be resolved. “Russia is committed to back the
sides and the process will go on,” indicated Medvedev. 54 What is more,
when referring to the confl ict settlement perspectives, the Russian presi-
dent stated, “There is only one way to resolve the NK confl ict: by making
arrangements. Arrangements do not have alternatives. Only the war is an
alternative of an arrangement. Hence, the confl ict has to be resolved by
making arrangements. As a president, I have spent a lot of time on this
issue. Due to my eff orts throughout the last couple of years eight trilateral
meetings were organized. In my opinion, it is a good result as we were
able to bring the viewpoints closer to each other.” 55 Nonetheless, the Ka-
zan Summit ended up with failure as the opposing sides started to blame
each other for extending the talks. Unfortunately, after the failure of the
Kazan initiative, the international community was silent and did not pro-
pose new approaches for satisfying the confl icting parties. 56
However, it is important to note that even though, the Kazan Sum-
mit, the Mayendorf declaration and the other meetings organized during
Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency resulted in failure, they represented ma-
jor steps towards the NK confl ict resolution when over the long period of
time, the sides believed in success and compromise. Hence, even though
Dmitry Medvedev had a short presidential term, due to his increased at-
tention to the confl ict settlement process, Nagorno-Karabakh confl ict was
on its edge of resolution.
2.3. Vladimir Putin and the increased level of violence: 2012-2016
The signifi cance of the year of 2013 is explained with the May De-
crees signed by Vladimir Putin, as he started his second presidential term.
According to the new Foreign Policy Concept, Russia gained an active
53
54
55
56
Sonnleitner, “Russia’s backyard-unresolved confl icts in the Caucasus,” 91.
Dmitry Medvedev, “Dmitry Medvedev believes NK confl ict can be settled,”Aysor, 2011,
http://www.aysor.am/en/news/2011/10/21/medvedev-nkr/350556, (accessed January 21,
2017).
Dmitry Medvedev, “Heracox Medvedevy cankanum e arag lucel Lernayin Xarabaxi himnax-
ndiry,” (in Armenian) [Leaving Medvedev wants a quick solution for the NK issue] Chor-
rord inqnishxanutyun, No.485, 27 December 2011, 3.
Pokalova, “Confl ict Resolution in Frozen Confl icts: Timing in Nagorno-Karabakh,” 79.
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