At the meeting of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia in Sochi “reference was made to the transport corridors,” according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who also noted that corridors refer to both railways and highways․
“This will be our next agreement. Next week, the deputy prime ministers will summarize some of the results in Moscow and announce the decisions we have agreed on today,” Putin said following the meeting on November 26.
Azerbaijan strives to open a transport connection between mainland Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhichevan via Armenia, which has emerged as a sticking point in Armenia-Azerbaijan post-war negotiations.
A pledge to unblock “all economic and transport connections in the region” was included in last year’s ceasefire agreement but the term corridor, which comes with issues of sovereignty, was not.
If established, the connection will remain under Armenian sovereignty, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a press conference Tuesday, adding that the ceasefire agreement says that all international roads will remain under the control of the countries in whose territories they lie.
Azerbaijan refers to the transport link as the “Zangezur corridor,” implying that the Azerbaijani government would have some form of control over the route.
The trilateral document, signed between the parties on November 26 in Sochi, doesn’t not include the word “corridor”. Here is the full translation of that statement:
“We, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia N.V.Pashinyan, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan I.H. Aliyev and President of the Russian Federation V. V. Putin, met on November 26, 2021 in Sochi and discussed the November 9, 2020 ceasefire statement in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that ended all hostilities and the implementation of the January 11, 2021 declaration on the unblocking of all economic and transport ties in the region.
We reaffirmed our commitment to the subsequent, consistent implementation and unconditional observance of all the provisions of the November 9, 2020 and January 11, 2021 statements, for the benefit of the stability, security and economic development of the South Caucasus. We agreed to intensify joint efforts aimed at resolving the remaining issues arising from the November 9,2020 and January 11, 2021 announcements as soon as possible.
We noted the significant contribution of the Russian peacekeeping mission in stabilizing the situation in the region and ensuring security.
We agreed to take steps to increase the level of stability and security on the Azerbaijani-Armenian border, to push the process of delimitation of the state border between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and then to establish a commission on bilateral demarcation with the participation of the Russian Federation.
We highly appreciated the activity of the trilateral working group on unblocking all economic and transport relations of the region, established in accordance with the January 11, 2021 statement, and chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation.
We stressed the need to launch specific programs as soon as possible to identify the economic potential of the region.
The Russian Federation will continue to provide the necessary assistance for the normalization of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia, the establishment of trust between the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, as well as the establishment of friendly relations in the region.”
