The SCO summit started in Samarkand. But, despite Putin’s satisfied face in his meetings with the leaders of the participating countries, his mood is so-so. All because of the upcoming aggravation of the Azerbaijani-Armenian conflict.
In 2020, when Azerbaijan managed to conduct a successful military operation to bring part of the Nagorno-Karabakh territories back under its control, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan also turned to Putin and the CSTO for military assistance. . But Putin justified the refusal to provide military assistance at the time with the fact that Armenia itself did not recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh. And according to international law, Nagorno-Karabakh is the territory of Azerbaijan.
But this time the Azerbaijani troops are already firing directly on the territory of Armenia. The purpose and the suggestion are clear: Azerbaijan needs a transport corridor to Nakhichevan to have direct access to its enclave and access to the border with Turkey. Without the consent and coverage of which, of course, Baku would not have taken such a step.
But Putin, once again, “swallowed” and turned the other cheek. At the CSTO summit in video format, which was held the day before at the request of Yerevan, the participating countries refused to send a military contingent to Armenia in the hostilities area. In addition, videos are circulating on social networks, in which the FSB post was allegedly targeted by the Azerbaijani armed forces.
There are several conclusions from the next exacerbation (which will surely continue beyond):
– The CSTO, created by the Russian Federation as an alternative to NATO, is a fake. It does not provide any guarantee of territorial integrity, as well as the military protection of its member countries.
– Erdogan once again inflicted a reputational “stab in the back” on his “friend” Putin, taking advantage of the moment when the Ukrainian Armed Forces successfully launched a counter-offensive in the direction of Kharkiv and all the attention of the Kremlin is directed to the ‘Ukraine.
Well, the SCO Summit is a solo Xi, making his first trip abroad since the lockdown began in 2020. Also, the first country he visited (and secured support for sovereignty and territorial integrity) it was Kazakhstan. Another member state of the CSTO.
This signal, of course, sounded specifically for Putin, whose propagandists (including Margarita Simonyan’s husband of Armenian origin) managed to “distinguish themselves” earlier with direct threats against Kazakhstan, threatening to return the “original territories of the Russian Federation” “in the north of the country.
The summit itself, in which Xi participates personally, is China’s response to Washington after the aggravation around Taiwan. China is forming its “axis” of allies. But so far it is more likely to be just a “club” of US anti-fans and supporters of a “multipolar world” trying to diversify the sources of soft loans (SCO Bank, where Beijing is the main sponsor of low-cost loans. ) and to balance Washington’s geopolitical influence in the world.
But there is no prospect of turning it into an alternative to NATO.
Two member countries of the “nuclear club” and the SCO – India and Pakistan – have mutual territorial claims and are constantly poised on the brink of military conflict. By the way, India and China also have territorial disputes, and not long ago they had military clashes in border areas.
Well, the Russian Federation, no matter how inflated by Putin’s cameras, plays in the SCO, to put it mildly, not the first or even the second violin.
Maxim Yali, candidate of political science, professor of the National Aviation University, correspondent member of the Academy of Political Sciences of Ukraine.
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