“The Zangezur Corridor has never been discussed as part of the agreements that were made by President Putin, President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan on November 9 in 2020,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday during a press briefing.
In his remarks last week, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan said that without the so-called land “corridor” through Armenian connecting to Nakhichevan, he would not open his country’s borders with Armenia.
Lavrov’s statement on Thursday counters Aliyev’s assertion that the creation of the so-called “corridor” was mandated by the Nov. 9, 2020 agreement.
Speaking about unblocking regional connections, Lavrov said the three countries had decided during trilateral task force meetings that the countries will retain sovereignty and jurisdiction over routes which will be unblocked through their territory.
This was agreed and discussed with President Vladimir Putin of Russia during his Yerevan visit for the CSTO summit last year, Lavrov said, adding that for “unknown reason” that agreement was not implemented.
“I remember quite well, how positively this was accepted, but then it just went away….I don’t know what hindered the implementation of the agreements on opening connections between Azerbaijan proper and Nakhichevan,” Lavrov said.
This statement comes after the Russian foreign ministry urged Yerevan to resume Moscow-mediated talks with Baku.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin and the Armenian ambassador in Moscow, Vagharshak Harutiunyan, on Wednesday discussed the normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations “in detail” during a meeting requested by Harutiunyan.
“The Russian side emphasized the urgent need for an early resumption of trilateral work in this area based on a set of agreements between the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the ministry said in a short statement. It gave no other details.
During the same press conference Lavrov complained that Armenia opposes Russian control of a future road and railway that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan through a strategic Armenian region.
Lavrov insisted that it would not call into question Armenian sovereignty over the transport links sought by Baku.
“They don’t want Russian border guards to stand there, even though this was written down and signed by Prime Minister [Nikol] Pashinyan,” he told the news conference. “He doesn’t want neutral border and customs control. [They want to do that] only by themselves, and that contradicts what was agreed upon.”
Paragraph 9 of the November 9, 2020 agreement stipulates that Russian border guards stationed in Armenia will “control” the movement of people, vehicles and goods between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan. Armenian officials say this only allows them to “monitor” the commercial traffic, rather than escort it, let alone be involved in border controls.
Last week, Pashinyan reiterated his government’s position about Russian control of the proposed road, when he reacted to Aliyev’s latest demands that people and cargo be allowed to move “without any checks.” The prime minister again argued that the 2020 truce accord does not commit Armenia to opening any extraterritorial corridors.
