“We are in constant contact with our [Iranian] partners,” said Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. “We have provided all the necessary clarifications on this matter. We assume that the arguments presented by us have been heard and accepted in Tehran.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sparked the Iranian uproar with his August 19 statement accusing Armenia of “sabotaging” a Russian-brokered agreement to build a highway and railway connecting Nakhichevan to the rest of Azerbaijan via Syunik, the only Armenian province bordering Iran.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry reportedly summoned Russia’s ambassador in Tehran last week to warn Moscow against contributing to any “geopolitical changes” in the region. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi tweeted on September 5 against “any threat from North, South, East, or West to territorial integrity of our neighbors is … a red line for Iran.” Senior Iranian lawmakers and government-linked media outlets openly denounced Moscow in the following days.
“It is clear that the anti-Russian information campaign was inspired by certain circles that use any, even the most absurd opportunity, to sow discord in the expanding strategic partnership between Moscow and Tehran,” Zakharova told a news briefing.
“Insinuations circulated by media about a change of the existing geopolitical borders and threats to the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Armenia … do not correspond to reality,” she said.
The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Akbar Ahmadian, reportedly heard such assurances from his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu at a meeting in Saint Petersburg on Tuesday. According to the Iranian Mehr news agency, Shoigu told Ahmadian that “Russia adheres to previous agreements with Tehran” regarding new transport links four Nakhichevan.
Zakharova likewise insisted that Russia’s position on the issue “hasn’t undergone any changes.” She said Moscow simply wants Armenia to comply with Paragraph 9 of a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal that stopped the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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 Syunik.
Baku wants people and goods moving between Nakhichevan to the rest of Azerbaijan to be exempt from Armenian border controls. Yerevan rejects these demands.
Armenian officials also say the truce accord does not allow the Russian border guards to escort the traffic to and from the Azerbaijani exclave, let alone be involved in border controls. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian reaffirmed this stance when he spoke in the Armenian parliament later on Wednesday.
“Where is it written that these FSB border guards must be on the ground?” he said. “There is no such thing written.”
Pashinian also argued that the clause cited by the Russians does not limit “Armenia’s sovereignty over any part of its territory.”
