Certain regional affairs experts have evaluated the recent “Karabakh Declaration” signed in Moscow by the Presidents of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as essentially “constructive”. Manvel Sargsyan, Senior Expert at the Armenian Center for Strategic and National Research observes that of prime significance is that there is agreement to keep the Karabakh issue within the jurisdiction of the Minsk Group. “After the Georgian crisis the question arose as to whether the Minsk Group would continue to operate, continue the negotiations process with the nations involved. Doubts were raised in this context but now we can state that the parties to the conflict and the superpowers have agreed to uphold the diplomatic process regarding this issue.” Sergey Minasyan, an expert on the mass media with the Caucasus Institute, observes that the signed document corresponds to Armenian and Azeri interests given that neither was prepared to sign off on an actual settlement document. “The Declaration also derives from Russian interests since with this initiative Russia wanted to show that it could play a certain constructive role in the region, by attempting to resolve ethno-political conflicts on post-Soviet lands and not merely waging war against smaller nations. Manvel Sargsyan states that it is difficult to forecast what the results of the Declaration will be and Sergey Minasyan believes that the Declaration will lead to a more active negotiations process and that the parties will meet more frequently in Moscow. However, in the eyes of the experts this doesn’t mean that Russia will assume the lead role in future negotiations. “Russia is simply attempting to create the impression that is able to resolve regional questions.”