When the train departs: Russian Foreign Ministry shifts emphasis

A curious comment regarding the Joint Declaration signed in Washington on August 8 by the leaders of Azerbaijan, the USA, and Armenia was given by the Russian foreign policy department. "The Russian Foreign Ministry has reserved its opinion on the Washington Declaration signed by Yerevan and Baku until it studies the details of the project, which has not yet been made public," said Alexey Fadeev, Deputy Director of the Information Policy Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at a briefing, adding that when unblocking communication routes through the Syunik region of Armenia (Zangezur - ed.), the presence of Russian border guards must be taken into account.

This is stated in the new issue of the Caliber.Az YouTube channel.

"There seems to be nothing strange in these words. Russian border guards indeed serve on certain sections of the Armenian-Iranian border, and it is completely natural that American companies that will come to Armenia to operate the Zangezur corridor will have to somehow delineate control areas with the Russian border service, at least for security purposes.

However, Fadeev's statements become more and more controversial further on. "As we noted earlier, the involvement of non-regional forces in the South Caucasus should promote a peaceful agenda, not create new problems and dividing lines. We also pointed out that it is necessary to take into account Armenia's membership in the EAEU and the presence of Russian border guards in the Syunik region. We believe this should be considered when working out the details of the project," he said.

And while we will not take the liberty of delving into legal conflicts (this is a matter for lawyers specializing in commercial law) related to the relationship between the Washington Declaration and the provisions of the EAEU, we fundamentally disagree about the creation of dividing lines. Everything that is designed to bring peace and stability to the South Caucasus, by definition, cannot be divisive. But here too, we are well aware that with such a euphemism, the Russian Foreign Ministry is simply expressing its concern about geopolitical competition from the United States.

However, the Russian diplomat then makes statements that, in our view, lack legal logic. He stated that Russia considers the trilateral agreements of the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan from 2020-22 to be relevant because none of the parties has announced withdrawal from these agreements, transparently hinting that the Washington Declaration contradicts the trilateral statement," the material notes.

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