Russian, Armenian premiers discuss ties, opening of transport ties in South Caucasus

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia and Armenia discussed Wednesday bilateral ties and the opening of transport communications in the South Caucasus region on the sidelines of a meeting of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in the Russian port city of Sochi.

“We sincerely value our fraternal relations, they are of a strategic and allied nature. Today, trade, economic and investment cooperation between Russia and Armenia is developing actively, dynamically, despite the illegal economic sanctions imposed by a number of unfriendly states,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during a meeting with his Armenian counterpart, Nikol Pashinyan.

Mishustin said the trade turnover between Moscow and Yerevan between January and April increased 96% and amounted to almost 140 billion Russian rubles ($1.7 billion) and he expressed the need to maintain the trajectory and reach “new record levels in mutual trade."

"It is necessary to use the existing opportunities to increase trade and investment, and, of course, our joint intergovernmental commission is solving this problem," he said.

He underlined Moscow’s interest in launching new joint projects in the energy, mining, digitalization and agro-industrial sectors. "Russian companies are ready to offer advanced solutions, including in the areas of e-government, smart, safe cities, and transport infrastructure,” said Mishustin.

He added that they are working “systematically” to unblock economic and transport ties in the South Caucasus, based on the trilateral agreement signed between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, and expressed that the creation of new infrastructure routes “meets the interests of all states in the region."

Pashinyan said Yerevan is ready to open regional transport communications in the South Caucasus based on agreements reached between Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"I want to once again express the readiness of the Republic of Armenia to open regional economic and transport communications within the framework of the principle of sovereignty of the jurisdiction of those parties through which these communications pass," said Pashinyan.

Relations between the two former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh -- a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

In the fall of 2020 in 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan liberated several cities, villages and settlements from Armenian occupation. The Russian-brokered peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.

Despite ongoing talks on a peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan, tensions between the neighboring countries increased in recent months over the Lachin corridor, the only land route giving Armenia access to Karabakh.