The world is witnessing the last grasp of Russia to retain its influence in the South Caucasus. Finally, Nikol Pashinyan, the leader of a country long considered Russia’s final bastion in the region, openly criticised Moscow’s “divide and rule” policy.

Until Nikol Pashinyan’s explicit criticism, only Azerbaijan and Georgia, the two other countries in the South Caucasus, had tried to shed light on the dark side of Russia’s imperial policy through all available platforms.

It has long been a well-known fact that Russia plays one ethnicity against another. It has never supported any ethnicity but has used it as leverage to put pressure on the entire region. However, considering Russia as their protector, Armenians played right into Moscow’s hands.

Contrary to the Armenian mainstream, as the former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili noted, Russia was interested in neither resolving the Garabagh Conflict nor fully supporting Armenia. Russia was interested only in prolonging the conflict, as it prevented both countries, Azerbaijan and Armenia, from developing, thereby providing Moscow with leverage in the region.

The same logic applies to other conflicts in the region, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Russia’s support for the two separatist regimes does not stem from its commitments to international law, as the Kremlin claims. By supporting separatism, Russia retains its influence in the region.

It is worth........

© AzerNews