Is Putin serious about peace in the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict?

latest hostilities, says Dr. Mankoff, who is currently deputy director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Russia and Eurasia Programme, is the fact that the presidents of both countries are in the United States for the nuclear security summit, giving them a far larger global audience than they would normally expect.

So, if this latest development does represent some kind of a cry for international attention, what hope is there of a peaceful resolution?

“If there’s going to be a settlement, it will have to be on Russia’s terms,” says Mankoff. “Yes, there’s the for two decades because of this conflict.

The position of the United States is that NagornoKarabakh is a disputed region, but other surrounding tracts of land that Armenia has accumulated amount to occupied territory and should be returned.

Yet, while Azerbaijan is unlikely to take the risk of invading Nagorno-Karabakh, geography and a predominantly Armenian population making it a daunting challenge, many Azeris detect double-standards in the West’s approach.

“They wonder why the West punishes Russia for annexing Crimea, but not Armenia for similar behaviour in Karabakh,” notes The Economist. “Many ask why the West approves of Ukraine using force to restore territorial integrity, but insists on Azerbaijan’s peaceful patience.”

Nobody has formally recognised Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of Armenia; even the Armenian government has made no effort to annex the territory.

And yet while full-scale military intervention — by any party — seems highly unlikely, there is also a question mark over how seriously Russia, the main power-broker, wants to pursue full-scale peace.

“Russia doesn’t want conflict because it’s trying to increase its influence over both countries,” says Mankoff. “If they can do that through resolving the conflict, then that’s an option, but failing that, the status quo benefits Russia fairly well.”

Russia is not just looking for peace, but is rather looking for some arrangement to maximise its influence