Lavrov singled out Yerevan’s reluctance to open a transport corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave and let Russian border guards control traffic through it.
“We are now worried about the fact that the trilateral agreements concluded at several summits between Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan in 2020-2022 have also been put on hold,” he told students and professors of Moscow State Institute of International Relations in a speech.
“I mentioned the resumption of transport links and also mentioned the trilateral [Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani] commission that was working on this but now practically does not meet. Yerevan believes that this should be done directly with Azerbaijan, but if they succeed, then no problem,” he said.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian rejected at the weekend similar criticism voiced by Lavrov last month amid lingering tensions between Moscow and Yerevan. Pashinian said Armenian-Azerbaijani transport links have still not been opened “also because of comments by a number of Russian partners that have nothing to do with the logic of the document and contradict it.” He did not elaborate.
Lavrov described Pashinian’s comments as “bizarre,” implicitly pointing to Paragraph 9 of a November 2020 ceasefire deal that stopped the Karabakh war. It says that Yerevan will “guarantee the security of transport links” between Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan and also stipulates that Russian border guards will “control” the movement of people, vehicles and goods through Armenia’s Syunik province.
Armenian leaders accuse Moscow of sidestepping other, more significant provisions of the truce accord that committed Baku to halting military operations in Karabakh, ensuring the region’s unfettered transport communication with Armenia and releasing all Armenian captives. They argue that the Russians failed to prevent, thwart or even criticize last September’s Azerbaijani assault that forced Karabakh’s entire population to flee to Armenia.
Lavrov repeated in this regard the official Russian line that Pashinian himself predetermined such an outcome when he recognized Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh during a 2022 European Union summit in Prague.
The top Russian diplomat complained that Yerevan is now also blocking Moscow’s “advisory” involvement in its contacts with Baku on the delimitation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
“They don’t want to, and at the same time they constantly strive to attract the West -- the United States, the European Union, Paris -- to get them to provide their auspices to any processes,” he said.
Visiting Baku on August 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to help Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiate a peace treaty, delineate their border and open transport links. Putin discussed the matter with Pashinian by phone in the following days. Pashinian appeared to decline the offer on Saturday, saying that his government now prefers to negotiate with Baku without third-party mediation.
Yerevan has been far more open to Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks mediated or arranged by Western powers.