In a press conference with Armenian journalists in Washington, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the same formula on which Armenia, the U.S., and Azerbaijan reached agreement was also proposed to Russia. He was responding to a question about why unblocking regional communications had not succeeded under Russian mediation.
“Do you remember there was a trilateral working group on regional communications? We always expressed readiness to work within this logic, and we never understood why, directly or indirectly, this was obstructed,” he said, Sputnik Armenia reported.
According to Pashinyan, the process stalled because Armenian authorities saw attempts to steer it toward undermining Armenia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction.
“We could not agree to this in any way. No one can accuse us of insincerity, because we have always said this is a red line for us. The difference now is that today’s text spells this out much more explicitly,” the prime minister stated.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk has repeatedly said that in discussions on unblocking transport links in the region, no one questions Armenia’s sovereignty.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said cooperation within the Armenia-Azerbaijan-Russia working group on unblocking transport and economic links in the South Caucasus had stalled due to the West’s destructive influence and the unclear position of the Armenian authorities. The last meeting of the trilateral working group, co-chaired by Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, and Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev, took place on June 2, 2023, in Moscow.
