Lavrov: I did not see logic in Pashinyan's proposal in unblocking of transport corridor

In recent days, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have really addressed the topic of establishing a connection between the main part of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan in their public comments; Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan has said somewhere that Armenia is categorically against the Zangezur corridor. There was never any mention of the Zangezur corridor within the framework of the agreement reached between the presidents of Russia, Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated this at a press conference Thursday.

According to him, in the trilateral statement which was signed on November 9, 2020 and which stopped the war in 2020, it is said that all economic and transport links, etc. will be unblocked, that Armenia guarantees the safety of transport communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan—in both directions. And the monitoring of this transport communication is carried out by the agencies of the Border Guard Service of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.

"Here is the entire quote from the document that was signed in tripartite format on November 9, 2020. And what Mr. Pashinyan said, that he wants similar conditions for transit through Armenia, which will be used in the case of transit from Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan through Iran... I did not see any logic here; to be honest, it is hardly appropriate to compare these routes.

"Within the framework of the tripartite working group, which was created at the level of the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan in 2021, it was agreed that in case of unblocking of all connections and routes, the countries through whose territory any unblocked route will pass will fully maintain their sovereignty and jurisdiction over these routes in their territory. .

"In June 2023, at the level of the deputy prime ministers, they agreed to restore such communication; initially, the railway. It was agreed, discussed with [Russian] President Putin in Yerevan, when he visited there, separately with Pashinyan, within the framework of the CSTO summit. I remember very well that it was received quite positively, but then everything ‘went’ somewhere.

"Of course, we know that such retreats from the agreements reached are not rare, and I don't know what prevented these agreements from being finalized on paper, about the principles of opening the movement between Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. We only know very well that the good advice of Western friends always exists in the South Caucasus, and that advice is sometimes perceived by one or another participant in the process.

"But the fact that the advice of the West is always aimed at not finding agreements between the countries of the region, based on the balance of their interests, but are aimed at promoting their geopolitical tasks; that is also known to us. And I am convinced that there is no alternative to restoring such communication, its parameters are defined in the tripartite agreement. The route passes through the sovereign territory of Armenia, under the supervision of the Border Guard Service of the FSB of the Russian Federation. The border guard and customs control procedures when entering Armenia and Azerbaijan and exiting the Azerbaijani Nakhichevan from Armenia have been agreed upon here as well," said the Russian FM.