Azerbaijan Demands $250 from Iranian Drivers, Says Karen Kocharyan

The Azerbaijani police are currently not checking vehicles with Armenian license plates near Vorotan, focusing instead on inspecting vehicles from Iran. They are documenting the paperwork and allowing them to proceed, stated Goris Deputy Mayor Karen Kocharyan in an interview with NEWS.am.

It should be noted that Azerbaijani police are conducting checks on Iranian trucks and their documentation near the Vorotan settlement on the Goris-Kapan interstate road. "If the Turks have set up that police post, the consequences are very dire. They are asking for $250 for the data, which I can't verify how accurate it is, but that's what the drivers have said," he mentioned.

According to the Deputy Mayor, this process significantly impacts the psychological state of Armenian citizens: "You arrive and there’s a Turkish policeman on the road checking an Iranian, and you don’t know if you will be checked or not. Do you understand what kind of psychological pressure this creates?" The National Security Service's press center reported that the border troops of the service and the border guard troops of the Russian FSB are coordinating efforts to address the emerging situation.