Stratfor: Azerbaijan may become center of US-Russia confrontation

News.Az reports citing RIA Novosti that according to the authors of the survey, after the Georgian-Ossetian military conflict in 2008, Russia strengthened its military presence in Armenia and reached strong economic and political positions there.

All the same military presence in Armenia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia as well as cooperation with Azerbaijan in security sector ensures Russia's position of a dominating external power in the region, analysts believe.

"Nonetheless, the West is not going to allow expansion of Russia's influence in the area of the former Soviet peripheria. During the unrests in Ukraine the United States and EU supported the overthrow of pro-Russian government in Kiev in favor of the one that would be oriented to the West. And western countries made it clear that their support would not be limited with Ukraine. West started to build military bases in Central and Eastern Europe and expand cooperation in the sphere of security with some other Soviet countries", the article says.

All the same, the analysis believe that Caucasus may become a new point of confrontation between Russia and the West. This can also be proven by the opening of NATO's training center in Georgia in late August of this year.

In addition, the experts believe that the crisis in Ukraine unexpectedly triggered growing tensions in the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict over Nagorno Karabakh.

Russia keeps restrained in this issue, the authors of the material say. Moscow calls for a dialogue between the two countries and continues military supplies to both countries as a curbing element.