On March 24, consultations between Russian and U.S. experts were held in Riyadh. The meeting lasted more than 12 hours. The Russian delegation was led by Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs.
Grigory Karasin, who has held the post of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister for many years, dealt with the issues related to the South Caucasus, the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement, and Armenian-Turkish relations.
1. What did Karasin discuss with Kocharyan in spring 2006?
In April 2006, the press service of the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that at the meeting of Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin it was noted that “the recent mutually profitable solution of issues of development of Russian-Armenian cooperation in gas and energy spheres opens new perspectives for our economic cooperation.”
“In the changing environment of the Transcaucasia and in the contiguous region the Russian-Armenian cooperation is a considerable factor for the provision of security and stability,” the press service noted then.
Grigory Karasin visited Yerevan on April 18-19, 2006 to participate in the regional meeting of ambassadors of the Russian Federation in Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.
2. Why did Karasin visit the region with Fried
The regional visit of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and senior officials from Russia, USA and France started on May 24, 2006.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried and French Foreign Ministry’s Political Director Stanislas de Laboulaye arrived in Baku with the Russian, U.S. and French Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group.
Photo: Photolure
The mediators issued a statement in Baku on May 24, saying that “time has come to come to an agreement on basic principles of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement.”
“Russia, France and USA emphasize the belief of the international community that this conflict can be settled only peacefully,” the statement read. It said that Azerbaijan and Armenia should prepare their publics for peace rather than for war.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Fried pointed out that during their visit to Baku they had discussed important aspects of the future settlement and considered the possibilities of organizing the two presidents’ meeting in the nearest future. Back then, Grigory Karasin noted that the joint visit of such an impressive delegation should be taken as evidence of the OSCE Minsk Group member states’ serious approach to the conflict resolution.
According to him, the mediators believed that the parties were at the stage when the mutually acceptable solution could be achieved. “It depends on Azerbaijan and Armenia whether that will happen,” the Russian official pointed out.
3. What parallels with Kosovo did Karasin draw?
In August 2006, Grigory Karasin stated that “the territorial integrity does not exclude the possibility of existence of different variants of solutions of status issues and does not imply possibility of ignoring the will of peoples”.
Grigory KarasinPhoto: Aif.md
“Some of our Western interlocutors try to assure us that Kosovo is a unique case, which appeared by virtue of unique historical circumstances. Talks about uniqueness are naïve, and we cannot accept that interpretation. Precedents are created by life itself and obstinate negation will not abolish them. Can one tell the populations of other autonomies that in this case we give independence, but it in no account can be a model for you?”, Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Izvestia.
The Russian diplomat noted that talking about the “uniqueness” of the Kosovo case they either forgot or deliberately did not notice that the matter concerned inconsequent approach to the conflicts of different regions of the world, in other words, the “double standards” in their settlement”.
“In spite of all the specific nature of the concrete situations, universal rules of settlement, based on generally accepted norms of the international law should be applied”, said Grigory Karasin.
4. What “alternative status decisions” did Karasin talk about?
In December 2006, Karasin said that the settlement of the conflicts should be based on “practical coupling” of the principles of territorial integrity and the right of self-determination, “which implies a wide range of choice of alternative status decisions”.
“We respect the principle of territorial integrity. However, the right for self-determination, which represents a basis for the Abkhazian and South Ossetian sides, is also a part of the international law. We do not consider it right to impose from the outside some tough formulas and recipes, which prescribe to act only in one predetermined direction. It is obvious that the settlement of the conflicts should be based on practical coupling of those two principles, which imply a wide range of choice of alternative status decisions”, Grigori Karasin in an interview with “Union State” magazine.
5. What geopolitical balance of power did Karasin want to preserve?
In November 2009, Karasin said that the Karabakh conflict settlement would be viable if it helped preserve “the historically formed geopolitical balance of forces in the Transcaucasia” in the post-conflict period.
Grigory KarasinPhoto: REUTER
“Russia will be ready to support a variant of the conflict settlement which will be suitable for all the involved sides, and if a compromise agreement is reached, it is ready to take the role of the guarantor of the settlement. It is clear that viable will be the variant of conflict settlement, which will allow bringing back stability and composure to Transcaucasia, and in the post-conflict period will help preserve the historically formed geopolitical balance of forces there, will not lead the region turning into an arena for international political and military contest”, Grigory Karasin said in an interview with Republic of Armenia newspaper.
6. What did Karasin say about the Armenian-Turkish settlement?
In the same interview, Karasin said that “nothing out of the Armenian-Turkish protocols could be interpreted as causing damage to a third party.”
“Singing of documents, which was a result of purposeful, pragmatic joint work of the Armenian and Turkish partners on settlement of complex issues, confirms the resolute determination of the two countries’ leaderships to take the case to establishment of friendly-neighborly relations. Now the sides need to ratify these protocols and take up their practical implementation”, the top Russian diplomat stated.
Grigory Karasin noted that Russia was ready to support the process of settlement of Armenian-Turkish relations also by means of implementation of economic projects, in particular, in the sphere of energy and transport.
“Normalization of relations between Yerevan and Ankara will objectively contribute to easing tension, consolidating peace, security and stability in the Transcaucasia”, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia stated in November 2009.
7. How did Karasin comment on the signing of the Armenia-EU agreement?
In an interview with Kommersant in December 2017, Grigory Karasin commented on the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between Armenia and the European Union.
Grigory Karasin“Our neighbors and partners including those within CSTO and EAEU represent sovereign states, and it is natural in XXI century to develop multi-vector contacts. We have never put our neighbors and partners before the choice: “either you are with us or with them”. Nevertheless, we have the right to anticipate from them prioritization of allied relations. Besides, the agreements, signed within the frames of other formats including the Eastern Partnership, should not go in the detriment of the commitments, which we have agreed on earlier.”
8. What did Karasin say about the U.S. blackmailing Armenia?
In December 2018, Grigory Karasin expressed the hope that Armenia “would find the courage to resist the blackmail and pressure from the U.S.”.
In an interview with RIA Novosti, Karasin commented on the visit of Assistant to the U.S. President for National Security Affairs John Bolton to Yerevan, who advised the Armenian government to “get rid of historic clichés in international relations”. The Russian diplomat particularly said:
Grigory Karasin and Sergey LavrovPhoto: REUTERS
“If this is the public side of U.S.-Armenian relations, one can only imagine what kind of “arm-twisting” happens behind the scenes. Washington’s interference in Armenia’s domestic and foreign affairs amid radical changes in the county this year has become more and more unceremonious. We are hopeful that current government of Armenia, which received the necessary mandate in recent parliamentary elections, will find the courage to resist the undisguised external blackmail and pressure and fight for their right of making decisions independently,” Russian Deputy FM emphasized.
9. What did Karasin suggest in April 2021?
In April 2021, the Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin suggested restoring regular meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian Foreign Ministers under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.
“I believe they could play a useful role in these efforts. The co-chairs have experience and significant global support. I think we could restore the practice of regular meetings between Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, which would get substantial international response,” the Senator said.
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