Russia, on Wednesday, again rejected the notion of a “corridor” through Armenia—a scheme being insisted by Baku that envisions a land “corridor” through Armenia that would connect mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova corrected a reporter from the Turkish Anadolou news agency on Wednesday when she was asked about such a “corridor.”
She clarified that Moscow uses the word “route” not “corridor” when referring to a possible road that will connect Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan via the territory of Armenia.
“We use the term ‘route.’ The issue of the unblocking of transportation communications in the region was discussed during the Sochi summit, and an agreement was reached that the joint work will continue within the task-force operating under the co-chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers of the three countries,” Zakharova said.
The task-force is led by the deputy prime minister of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan and has been looking at options to open the transit routes between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister made it clear during an interview published on September 30 that it never discussed any “extraterritorial corridors.” He said that the three sides agreed on another principle whereby “sovereignty over a road is exercised by the country through whose territory the road passes.”
“In practice, the implementation of this principle means that in order to enter the territory of Armenia from Azerbaijan via unblocked or newly built roads, border and passport control measures will be the same as, for example, when entering Armenia from Iran,” Overchuk told the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily at the time.
