06 April 2016•Update: 08 April 2016
MOSCOW
Some Russian experts believe the crisis over the disputed Karabakh territory can only be resolved if it is returned to Azerbaijan.
"If we do not want to repeat the same mistakes, we have to solve the Karabakh dispute. Karabakh's return to Azerbaijan is the only possible solution. Baku will not accept any other option," Russian political scientist Sergey Markov told Anadolu Agency Wednesday.
Over the weekend, 12 Azerbaijani troops and more than 100 Armenian soldiers were killed in fighting over Karabakh, which was seized by ethnic Armenian separatists in the early 1990s.
Markov said the crisis could easily spread to the Caucasus region, which would turn out to be "quite dangerous" for Russia.
Another expert Victoria Victorova, deputy director of Institute for Political and Military Analysis, said Russia ignored the Karabakh crisis while it defended its interests in the Middle East.
"Azerbaijan's position is clear. Karabakh should return to the country's territory," Victorova said.
Russian historian Oleg Kuznetsov said the future of Armenian administration depends on the Karabakh situation.
"I have no doubt even for a second that Azerbaijan has a right to take back by military means its lands occupied by Armenian terrorists a quarter of a century ago," Kuznetsov said.
Armenian militia has occupied Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region since 1993, similar to how pro-Russian militia have illegally occupied parts of Ukraine since 2014.
Three UN Security Council resolutions (853, 874 and 884) and UN General Assembly resolutions 19/13 and 57/298 refer to Karabakh as being part of Azerbaijan.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) also refers to the territory as under the occupation of Armenian forces.
