During today's briefing, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated:
“First, we do not use the ‘Zangezur Corridor’, in relation to this part of the region, we are talking about the routes passing through Syunik province from Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan.
Secondly, Russia does not stand for the creation of one specific route, but for the complete unblocking of economic and transport communications in the South Caucasus. And we are in favor of this happening on transparent, mutually beneficial terms. Based on the interests of both Armenia and Azerbaijan and their neighbors, such work is carried out within the framework of a trilateral working group under the joint chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers. They know that very well in Yerevan. That group is equal.
Third, there is a strong understanding in the Trilateral Working Group that countries should have sovereignty and jurisdiction over routes that pass through their territory. There was never any talk of creating any extraterritorial corridor.
Fourth, the trilateral group carries out its work on the basis of the agreements reached between the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021.
It clearly states the role of the Border Service of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the control of transport communications between Azerbaijan and Nakhijevan. Russian border guards have been successfully guarding Armenia's borders with Iran and Turkey for many years, according to bilateral agreements.
And one important thing, about which Yerevan is silent, is that the process of unblocking the communications started by the leaders of the three countries in January 2021 has not been completed until now. Over the years, we have several times come close to accepting a package of mutually beneficial solutions so that the parties can use each other's road infrastructure. But that opportunity was missed many times. This year, after the trilateral summit held in Moscow on May 25, the leaders instructed the trilateral working group to complete the work on agreeing on the technical issues on de-embargo, a week later, on June 2, at the 12th meeting of the trilateral working group, significant progress was made in the negotiations. In particular, a common understanding was reached regarding the restoration and organization of railway communication between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but again someone prevented the Armenian leadership from finalizing the arrangements on paper. And we know that this is the "good advice" of the Western friends of the current leadership of Armenia.
They are torpedoing Russian efforts and promoting pre-emption, as we saw on October 5 in Granada, where the declaration was adopted without Azerbaijan. Thus, Armenia may be cut off from the future configuration of regional communications.”
