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Russian Official Again Discusses Armenian-Azeri Transport Links In Yerevan


Armenia - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, November 5, 2021.
Armenia - Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk at a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, Yerevan, November 5, 2021.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk discussed with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian ongoing efforts to restore transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan during a fresh visit to Yerevan on Wednesday.

The main official purpose of the visit was to attend a regular session of a Russian-Armenian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation. Overchuk met with Pashinian ahead of the session.

Pashinian’s press office said the two men discussed Russian-Armenian economic ties as well as “prospects for restoring transport links in the South Caucasus region.” In particular, it said, they “exchanged views” on the work of a Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani working group dealing with practical modalities of opening the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to passenger and cargo traffic.

The working group co-headed by Overchuk and his Armenian and Azerbaijani opposite numbers last met in Moscow on December 1. It had been expected to formalize relevant understandings reached by Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at their November 26 talks in Sochi hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The group announced no deals on the transport links, however. Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian’s office said its meeting will “resume” in the coming days.

The trilateral task force has not met again since then. Grigorian on Wednesday attributed the delay to unspecified “issues subject to expert evaluations.”

Aliyev and Pashinian met again in Brussels last week. Speaking just before those talks, Aliyev said Yerevan must not control a land “corridor” that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenia’s Syunik province. Pashinian rejected the demand.

During the ensuing talks, the two leaders appear to have failed to patch up their differences on the status of the Armenian section of the planned Azerbaijan-Nakhichevan highway. But they reported further progress towards establishing a rail link between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan.

Echoing Pashinian’s statements made in Brussels, Grigorian insisted that Armenia will retain full control over a 45-kilometer section of the railway passing through its territory.

“It will function as an infrastructure facility under Armenia’s jurisdiction in a manner defined by the law,” he told journalists.

Overchuk refused to comment on the issue after the session of the Russian-Armenian commission. The Russian official visited Baku and met with Aliyev last week.

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