At a press conference held today, Manvel Sargsyan, an expert with the Armenian Center for National and International Studies, noted that Armenia has become a very important country for Russia, Euroe and NATO after the events in the South Caucasus this past August. He clarified that Armenia’s significance has grown considerably since Russia has completely lost its influence in Georgia and thus relations with Armenia are very valuable for maintaining influence in the South Caucasus. Europeans are also cautious and do not wish to "hand over" Armenia to Russia.

Regarding comments on the link between PACE Resolution 1643 and the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the political scientist stated that he does not share this logic. In his view, Europe understands pretty well that the Karabakh conflict is a complex issue and that a consensus between all interested parties is needed. With its signing of the Maindorf Declaration Russia entrusted the Karabakh issue to the Minsk Group. According to Manvel Sargsyan, Armenia can effectively participate in improving Russian-Turkish relations, given that they have been reevaluated after the Russian-Georgian war. In his opinion, in this context talks about the opening of the Armenian-Turkish border are not vain as this matter is on the agenda of Armenian-Turkish dialogue.