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Western Community Might Become Peacekeeper

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  • Western Community Might Become Peacekeeper

    WESTERN COMMUNITY MIGHT BECOME PEACEKEEPER

    WPS Agency
    July 6, 2011 Wednesday
    Russia

    Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta, No 137, July 6, 2011, p. 2
    [translated from Russian]

    RUSSIA'S ROLE OF PEACEKEEPER AND GO-BETWEEN IN THE COMMONWEALTH
    OUGHT TO BE REVISED; The impression is that Russia does not care
    about unsolved problems within the Commonwealth.

    Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandjan was met in Moscow
    yesterday. Nalbandjan is scheduled to meet with his Russian
    opposite number Sergei Lavrov. That the talks will be centered around
    Nagorno-Karabakh or Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict resolution need not
    be said. The recent Azerbaijani-Armenian talks in Kazan ended with
    nothing to show for it, much to the embarrassment of official Moscow
    and President Dmitry Medvedev who expected better from his Armenian
    and Azerbaijani counterparts Serj Sargsjan and Ilham Aliyev.

    Unfortunately, neither Yerevan nor Baku turned out to be ready for
    a compromise. France offered to become a go-between earlier this week.

    Its Foreign Ministry said that it possessed the willingness to help
    with the conflict resolution and ideas by which it thought it might
    be accomplished.

    The Kazan fiasco was not the only one for Moscow. Representatives of
    Kishinev and Tiraspol failed to reach an agreement at a meeting in
    the Russian capital. Trans-Dniester conflict resolution, the process
    where Russia has always called the tune, is back to where is was two
    decades ago. The involved parties use the rhetorics they used before
    the outbreak of the war in 1992. Russia eventually stopped that war. It
    has been maintaining peace in the region ever since. Unfortunately,
    it seems that there is nothing constructive Russia can offer Tiraspol
    and Kishinev these days. As matters stand, it can only offer guarantees
    of security to the population of the self-proclaimed Trans-Dniester
    Moldovan Republic. That's all. The European Union, however, can offer
    more - and does so offer.

    Germany is particularly active, establishing and developing political
    dialogue with the leadership in Tiraspol and working with local
    businesses. These latter are lured by the promises of the preferences
    Moldovan businesses enjoy.

    In a word, Russia is being ousted as the prime peacekeeping and
    negotiator from the zone of its vital interests. The Europeans move in
    whenever Russia takes a step back. When it refuses to, the Europeans
    never hesitate to push it back. Consider the Eastern Partnership
    initiative applied to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia.

    This is a program Belarus is encouraged to join as well. The Europeans
    work with all these countries, ensuring their own security and
    exporting democratic values to these territories.

    As for Russia, it does not appear to care about latent conflicts along
    its perimeters. It's time for Moscow to reconsider its attitude and
    foreign policy.

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