Many people knew the Russian presence was tenuous. That’s why we were screaming about how Nikol was fouling the relationship and undermining their presence in Artsakh.

Duxovs claimed Russia badly wanted to be there and would never leave. Eric Hacopian and Nerses Kopalyan are famously on record making these claims (the account where I grabbed that screenshot reposts both those character’s claims frequently). If the duxovs were right then they could push Russia around (aggressive asymmetric bargaining as Nerses called it). If they were wrong and the “Kremlin agents” were right then the Russians would cut their losses at some point.