Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has criticized the United States for making what she called a misleading statement about having a "unique" plan to unblock transportation routes in the South Caucasus.
"The U.S. is not offering anything new beyond what has already been discussed within the expert trilateral working group co-chaired by the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan," Zakharova said, according to RIA Novosti.
She asserted that the group’s activities were stalled due to the West’s destructive influence and the position of the Armenian authorities.
According to Zakharova, the West is trying to remove the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalization process from its regional framework and instead tailor it to its own interests.
"Behind Brussels’ usual pious pretexts lies a purely opportunistic goal. Western actors aim to shift the peace process between Baku and Yerevan to their own platforms in order to once again claim political success," she said.
Zakharova stressed that while Armenia and Azerbaijan seek constructive, mutually acceptable solutions with the support of regional partners like Russia, Iran, and Türkiye, Western nations interfere in this process, ignoring the interests of regional states.
She warned that such interventions could destabilize the regional security architecture and undermine the principle of regional self-sufficiency.
Zakharova also noted that the existing transport infrastructure in the region aligns with Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) standards, and that Armenia has additional reference frameworks through the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the shared customs area.
Earlier this week, U.S. Ambassador to Türkiye Tom Barak suggested that in the U.S., such unblocking issues could be resolved by leasing a road for 100 years, enabling all parties to use it. However, he added that cultural differences in the South Caucasus complicate the implementation of such a model.
