The Russian Foreign Ministry claimed that it is part of the West’s continuing efforts to hijack the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process and sideline regional powers such as Russia and Iran.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian confirmed last week that the United States has suggested that the transit of people and cargo through Syunik be administered by a U.S. company. He said that Baku and Yerevan are now “intensively” discussing the proposal. Pashinian also seemed open to the idea of a 100-year U.S. lease on the Armenian section of the corridor also floated by Washington.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the issue is the “sovereign business of Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
“We fully support negotiations between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” Peskov said without mentioning the U.S. involvement.
The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, indicated, meanwhile, that Moscow is not happy with “Washington’s attempts to interfere in the process of lifting the transport blockade in the region.”
“The Americans, for example, claim to have -- again, I quote them -- a ‘unique solution to the problem,’” said Zakharova. “In fact, they cannot offer anything new, except what was done [in 2021-2023] within the framework of the tripartite working group under the co-chairmanship of vice-premiers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. And so there is disingenuity here as well.”
She referred to a deal which Moscow says was finalized by the three countries in 2023. It stemmed from one of the provisions a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh. The clause committed Armenia to opening rail and road links between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan that would be overseen or monitored by Russian border guards.
Zakharova said the deal fell through because of Western powers’ “destructive influence” on the Armenian government.
“The Westerners aim to transfer the reconciliation process of Baku and Yerevan to their tracks,” she told a news briefing. “We also know where these tracks usually lead … This can lead to an imbalance of the security system in the region.”
Armenian opposition leaders have expressed serious concern over the transit arrangement proposed by the U.S.. They say it would undermine Armenian sovereignty over Syunik, the only Armenian province bordering Iran.
Tehran is strongly opposed to an extraterritorial corridor sought by Baku and the presence of “extra-regional” forces in the South Caucasus. Pashinian and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as well as senior Armenian and Iranian security officials spoke by phone late last week.