At the request of Hetq, Political Scientist Arif Yunusov offers the following commentary on the recent “Declaration” signed in Moscow by the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan The meeting between the Presidents and the “Declaration” they signed left more questions unanswered than providing clarifications. Naturally, every meeting towards a resolution of the conflict is a step forward. This is especially the case when a document is finally signed that calls fore a peaceful solution, not one gained through force; one that implies a disavowal of the resumption of military operations. However, the signed document contains no real points of agreement; everything is more or less left in the lurch. It even isn’t clear if this document signals the start of a new round of negotiations based on the Russian proposed plan or a wake-up call to continue negotiations based on the so-called Madrid principles. If what is being discussed is the latter then why didn’t the Minsk Group Co-Chairs participate, or at least the Russian Co-Chair? They didn’t even have a clue as to the text of the Declaration. If Russia has its own plan in mind, then what is it based on? It can be assumed that those agreements were orally discussed in Moscow. Perhaps, such a plan doesn’t exist and the entire meeting was simply some great public relations work for Medvedev and on a larger scale for Russia, to show off their constructive capabilities after the events in Ossetia. This all will become clear in the next month if and when the parties involved begin to negotiate on the basis on some type of agreements. Only then can the “Declaration” be considered an important step in settling the Karabakh conflict. But if there is no forward movement everything will then be quickly forgotten and it will become clear that it was simply some good public relations on the part of Russia aimed at restoring its shattered image while at the same time serving as a show of force in the region.