Why did Nikol Pashinyan’s recent visit to Moscow once again place Karabakh, the Azerbaijani territory that is internationally recognised, at the centre of discussions with Russia's Vladimir Putin?

The answer lies not in the present realities of the region, but in Moscow’s long-standing geopolitical habits.

And another key question is why does Russia continually revive the already resolved Karabakh issue?

For your biggest concerns I will make a shortcut, going straight to the answer; simple and logical: For decades, Russia has treated unresolved conflicts as instruments of influence. The Karabakh question, despite Azerbaijan restoring control over the region, remains one of Moscow’s most enduring levers in the South Caucasus.

By periodically reintroducing the issue into high-level talks, the Kremlin signals that it still considers itself an indispensable broker, even when the facts on the ground have shifted. In this sense, Karabakh is less a dispute to be resolved than a mechanism to preserve Russian relevance.

This approach is not new. It echoes patterns established during the Soviet Union, where Moscow maintained authority through managed instability in its peripheries. Frozen conflicts were never truly “frozen”; they were tools of calibrated control.

Why now, amid Russia’s broader geopolitical strain?

At a time when Russia remains deeply entangled in its war against Ukraine and locked in........

© AzerNews