Russia says West preventing Armenia from restoring routes in Caucasus

Western advice is preventing Armenia from restoring routes in the Caucasus, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova has said.

Zakharova made the remarks during a weekly briefing, TASS reports.

She noted that the process of restoring routes, launched by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia Vladimir Putin, Ilham Aliyev, and Nikol Pashinyan respectively, has not been completed yet.

“Significant progress was observed in the negotiations at the 12th meeting of the trilateral working group on June 2, in particular, a common understanding was reached regarding the restoration and creation of a railway route between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the spokesperson said.

“However, again, something prevented the Armenian leadership from finalising the agreements. We know well that the so-called `good advice of Western friends hampered the current Armenian leadership to finalise the agreements,” Zakharova added.

The spokesperson noted that the West, instead of promoting the implementation of trilateral agreements and, accordingly, the reconciliation of Baku and Yerevan, is torpedoing all positive achievements towards normalisation of relations.

“The West is torpedoing Russian efforts, trying to impose its own version on normalisation of the Armenia-Azerbaijan relations and promoting pseudo-normalisation instead of real one,” she added.

“As a result, Armenia, acting on a tip from the US and the EU beyond trilateral agreements, runs a great risk of being deprived of the future configuration of regional routes,” Zakharova concluded.