Political analysts in Armenia and Russia say that the visit of Turkey’s prime minister to Moscow and the partly overlapping visit by the Russian foreign minister to Yerevan last week could not have been unlinked.

Participants in a Yerevan-Moscow teleconference held Monday afternoon discussed the current stage of Armenian-Russian relations as well as the results of Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan January 13-14 against the backdrop of the one-day working visit to Russia by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan (January 18).

Caucasus Institute Director Alexander Iskandaryan described Russian top diplomat Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan, held almost concurrently with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Moscow as an event that “although was officially scheduled”, took place at an unusual time for the region.

“Of course, Lavrov’s visit had been scheduled, but it took place at a time when the region is going through not so usual developments,” said Iskandaryan, implying the process of ratification by Armenia and Turkey of the diplomatic protocols that they signed last autumn and speculations regarding possible scenarios of a Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement in that connection.

Along with prospects of broadening economic cooperation, during Lavrov’s visit last week the sides also discussed the Karabakh settlement and other issues pertaining to the South Caucasus.

Sargsyan’s meeting with Dmitry Medvedev on Monday proceeded according to nearly the same scenario, which analysts expect will lay the groundwork for a trilateral meeting between the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia expected during next week.

During the Yerevan-Moscow teleconference former co-head of the OSCE Minsk Group from Russia, Vladimir Kazimirov, said that he expected only limited progress during the meeting of the three presidents.

“Of course, there will be some progress, I don’t think that there will be nothing, nor do I think there will be rapid developments,” said Kazimirov.

Commenting on a possible link between the simultaneously developing Armenian-Turkish and Russian-Turkish relations, the diplomat explained that Russian-Turkish relations will be instrumental for the Karabakh settlement process. “Since Turkey, unlike Azerbaijan, is for a peaceful settlement of the problem,” he concluded.

Expert from the Russian Institute of Strategic Research Alexander Skakov also sticks to the viewpoint that positive developments in the Russian-Turkish relations might have a favorable influence on the Karabakh conflict settlement.

“At this stage of developments the positions of Baku, which views Turkey as a strategic partner, dramatically weaken, which will make Azerbaijan easier to talk to,” explained Skakov.

Iskandaryan, for his part, said that in reality there is no activation in the Karabakh process and one can hardly talk about a speedy solution to the problem.

“Some alterations will take place in the process, however it is yet early to speak about results, since the Karabakh process is not at that stage yet. And the seeming activity in the process only plays an auxiliary role in the context of the Armenian-Turkish process,” said the expert from Yerevan.

Meanwhile, representative of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Armenia’s former prime minister Hrant Bagratyan does not expect any positive development in the Karabakh settlement process, linking it to what he regards as the authorities’ failed economic policies.

“What is being done in the economy today will become policy in 10 years’ time. In a year we will be asking for the variant that we reject today to be offered in the Nagorno-Karabakh issue,” said Bagratyan at a separate discussion.