Political analysts outline Nikol Pashinyan's first foreign policy outcomes as Premier

In the opinion of Tigran Khzmalyan, a political analyst, after three months of Nikol Pashinyan's advent to power in Armenia, a gradual weakening of Russia's influence is noticeable. According to Khikmet Gadjizade, his colleague, Azerbaijan associates Pashinyan with possible progress in settling the Karabakh crisis.

On July 8, political analysts from Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi have assessed the first quarter of Pashinyan's rule at the conference "Civil Hearings: Velvet Revolution in Armenia – View from Yerevan, Baku and Tbilisi", organized by the NGO "Caucasian Centre for Civil Hearings".

Pashinyan's advent to power in Armenia was a surprise for Russia, although the removal of Serzh Sargsyan from the post was in Kremlin's interests, Tigran Khzmalyan, who is also a film director, has stated. According to his version, Sargsyan's pro-Western actions, in particular the association agreement with the EU and his trip to Germany after the aggravation of the Karabakh conflict in 2016, caused Moscow's displeasure.

Khikmet Gadjizade, a political analyst, has noted that in Azerbaijan, Pashinyan's coming to power gave no rise to illusions about a possible quick settlement of the Karabakh conflict.

Mr Gadjizade has drawn attention to the difference in perception of the conflict by the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia: Armenians of Karabakh categorically reject the idea of reunification with Azerbaijan, while in Armenia people are thinking about negative consequences of this conflict.

Experts of all three countries believe that the velvet revolution in Armenia inspires optimism as a step towards democratization of Southern Caucasus.