 Armenia, Azerbaijan, move from negotiations to ultimatums. Judging from the latest statements by Baku and Yerevan, negotiations over the past month have not brought the two sides much closer. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that no peace treaty was ready, shattering hopes that he and the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would potentially sign an agreement in Moldova on June 1. In turn, the Azerbaijani leader demanded that the government and armed units in Karabakh be dissolved, warning that otherwise the situation may take a different turn. Almost 50 heads of state and government from the European Union and other countries, including senior EU officials, will gather in Bulboaqa, a village outside of Chizinor, the Moldovan capital for the second European Political Community Summit. There, Aliyev and Pashinyan are due to hold talks that will be attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel. Sergei Makedonov, senior researcher at the Center for Euro-Atlantic Security at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, pointed to inflated expectations on the part of the observers in the wake of the recent spurt of negotiations. Pashinyan has been showing a fantastic level of flexibility and acquiescence, but that was not in evidence today. And this does not mean that the Armenian elites and society are ready for concessions, the expert told Comissant. Even as the two sides may be getting closer on certain aspects of the talks, this only tends to highlight the importance of other nuances and plenty of nuances remain. Makedonov says, Karabakh is a major issue, albeit not the only one. Other issues will emerge as this is an overarching conflict. He explains.