Approaches of resolving the Armenian- Azerbaijani conflict: the legitimacy of parallels with the russian-Ukrainian war and effect on the formation of the concept of the post-war state

The authors have studied the historical and legal origins of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which they see in the imperfect national-territorial order introduced by the Soviet constitutions of 1924, 1936, 1977. The legal and non-legal ways of resolving the one of prolonged post-Soviet conflicts, mostly diplomatic, political and military, their stages and effectiveness are analyzed. The specific features of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the legal possibilities of its averting based on the USSR Constitution valid at that time are determined. The authors have revealed the ineffectiveness of the political and legal tools used in 1989-1991 to resolve the interethnic conflict. The most important feature of this conflict is that it began long before the collapse of the Soviet Union and grew into an international one. After the mentioned Caucasian countries gained real sovereignty, there appeared the possibility of using international legal mechanisms of preventing armed conflicts, however, these attempts turned out to be feeble and inconsistent. Herewith rather wide range of such mechanisms was used, both universal (UN) and regional (OSCE). The adoption of four UN Security Council resolutions in 1992 and the Madrid Principles of the OSCE Minsk Group in 2007 did not prevent neither individual outbursts of armed confrontation nor large-scale military actions in autumn of 2020. The main difference between the studied conflict and the ongoing russian-Ukrainian war was the fact that between both parties no interstate agreements on mutual recognition of state borders were signed after the collapse of the USSR. No nternational legal mechanisms of ending the military confrontation, despite many years of efforts, were successful. In fact, the conflict was resolved in favor of Azerbaijan exclusively by military methods during two operations in 2020 and 2023, which essentially changed the ethnic composition of the disputed territories population, that violates several fundamental principles of international law. It can be assumed that due to such changes Armenia will be deprived of any legal grounds for continuing the conflict.