Russian Kommersant Publishes Map of Transport Corridors and Railways Agreed Upon by Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan

Russian newspaper Kommersant has published a map of the transport corridors and railways that Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan have agreed upon. The publication notes that the outcomes of the tripartite negotiations held in Moscow on January 11 were met with diametrically opposed assessments in Baku and Yerevan.

In Azerbaijan, the meeting was deemed effective, as an agreement was reached regarding the unblocking of economic and transport links in the region. In contrast, the opposition in Armenia accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of weakness and further concessions. The Armenian public considers the return of prisoners to be a top priority; however, issues concerning the economic agenda were discussed in the negotiations instead.

“During the meeting, it was agreed to establish a working group headed by the deputy prime ministers of the three countries, which will deal with the unblocking of all economic and transport links in the region,” it states. There are two main routes under discussion. First, there is a corridor from the main part of Azerbaijan to the enclave of Nakhchivan, which is supposed to go through Armenia's Syunik province. Secondly, there is a railway connecting Yerevan to Syunik province, which passes through Nakhchivan. Both routes were actively used during the Soviet era but ceased to exist with the onset of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

The closure of these transport routes also adversely affected Russia at the time. When rail transport from Russia to Georgia became impossible due to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, Armenia lost the most reliable route to its main ally, while Russia lost its connection to Turkish railways,” Kommersant highlights.

According to the site, expanding economic ties with Iran could provide significant assistance to Armenia, which has so far been hindered by the fact that the two countries are connected by only one mountain road.

“Thus, the document signed in Moscow should theoretically benefit all three parties. Azerbaijan should have a route to Nakhchivan and Turkey, Russia should have connections to Turkey and Armenia, and Armenia should connect to Russia and Iran. However, after the negotiations, de facto only Ilham Aliyev felt like a winner, while Nikol Pashinyan focused his speech not on achievements but on unresolved issues, primarily regarding Baku's lack of desire to discuss the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as the fate of Armenian prisoners of war,