Kremlin Says Putin Discussed So-Called ‘Zangezur Corridor’ with Pashinyan and Aliyev
President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed on Tuesday that Russia will withdraw its border troops from Armenia’s border with Iran on January 1, 2025.
The prime minister’s spokesperson, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, made the announcement, summing up a meeting between Putin and Pashinyan on the margins of the CIS summit, underway in Moscow, where the two also discussed similar arrangements regarding Russian border guards on the Armenia-Turkey border.
During a meeting in May, Pashinyan and Putin made a similar decision about the withdrawal of Russian border troops from Yerevan’s Zvartnots Airport. That process was completed on July 31, with Armenia’s National Security Service forces taking over that task.
Before meeting with Pashinyan, Putin also met separately with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Demitry Peskov, said that Putin discussed the topic of the so-called “Zangezur corridor” during his meetings with Pashinyan and Aliyev.
“Putin talked to each of them one on one, separately. Furthermore, the Russian president probably sat with each of them for half an hour, so there was definitely an exchange of views. Well, the topic of the ‘Zangezur corridor’ was also touched upon,” Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.
This issue was not reported by Yerevan and Baku in their readouts of the meetings with Putin.
Peskov also said that Russia does not interfere in the “affairs of Armenia and Azerbaijan,” explaining that, based on the CIS mandate, “the leaders of the countries always sit at the same table, but this does not indicate Moscow’s involvement in the affairs of Baku and Yerevan.”
“They continue their dialogue one way or another within the CIS framework. But the rest – bilateral relations – is no longer our domain, it is their sovereign prerogative,” Peskov clarified, according to the Izvestia newspaper.
Putin reportedly reiterated his invitation to Pashinyan to attend the BRICS summit later this month in Kazan, Russia, referring to the economic alliance involving Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa. Pashinyan’s office had signaled last month that the Armenian prime minister would attend the gathering.
The Russian president said that another bilateral meeting will be held with Pashinyan on the margins of the BRICS summit.
“We will hold a bilateral meeting, and there will be an opportunity to talk with many partners from dozens of countries that plan to participate in this work,” Putin said.
