“We are not discussing the TRIPP (Trump Route For International Peace and Prosperity) with the Russian side,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian told reporters. “There is no such issue on our bilateral agenda with the Russian side at the moment.”
“At the moment, the TRIPP is being implemented in the Armenia-U.S. format,” he said. “An agreement has been signed, and it is in the implementation phase. I would not like to say anything about the future at this point.”
Safarian commented on his Russian counterpart Mikhail Galuzin’s statement reiterating Moscow’s desire to have a role in the planned corridor that would run along Armenia’s border with Iran. Galuzin said on Monday that Yerevan will have to reckon with “Russia’s opinion” because Russian border guards remain deployed there and because Armenia remains a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.
Russia was close to brokering and overseeing a similar transit arrangement before Russian-Armenian relations began to deteriorate in 2022. The Armenian government is even less likely to accept Russian involvement in the TRIPP now that it is facing unprecedented Russian economic and political pressure over its pro-Western foreign policy. Moscow banned imports of Armenian agricultural products and beverages and threatened to impose more economic sanctions on Yerevan in the run-up to Armenia’s June 7 parliamentary elections.
Galuzin claimed that prospects for the implementation of the TRIPP project are “uncertain” also because it is opposed by Iran. Tehran expressed concern over the TRIPP even before the recent war with the United States and Israel. Iranian diplomats repeated those concerns in late May.