Political and legal prospects of Nagorno-Karabakh after the “four-day” war: the search for ways out of the impasse

The article analyzes the peacekeeping prospects for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which determines its development and analysis of its current state. The methodological basis of the study was neoinstitutionalism, as an approach to study the institutional characteristics of the dynamics of the transformation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, as well as a political and legal approach that analyzes the correlations of political and legal processes in the international environment. It is shown that over the past three decades after the war of 1992-1994, antagonism and distrust between the opposing sides have grown. Although the gap between them is huge, the recent relative thaw offers a window of opportunity for decisions on issues that underlie their confrontation: the fate of the surrounding territories, the potential role of international peacekeepers or observers, and the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. The distance between the parties on the third issue - status (final or intermediate) is currently insurmountable. As a conclusion, it is noted that the position of “territory in exchange for status” is fundamentally in the opposite direction from the position of “territory in exchange for peace”. The potential areas of cooperation remain.