Agreements on unblocking communications are based on principle of preserving sovereignty — Maria Zakharova

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson commented on the approaches of Russia and Iran to the unblocking of communications in the South Caucasus and emphasized that the work of the trilateral working group was frozen due to Armenia’s position.

“The approaches of Russia and Iran to communications in the South Caucasus are basically similar. This is confirmed by the agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between our countries signed in Moscow on January 17 this year. According to this document, the sides promote the simplification of security measures in the neighboring regions, including the South Caucasus, and cooperate to prevent interference and destabilizing presence of third forces. I think this is reflected in the fundamental interstate treaty, which is designed for twenty years or more, which speaks volumes.

Russia is a member of the trilateral working group on unblocking transportation and economic ties in the South Caucasus co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Within this group, a tremendous amount of work has been done to agree on both the legal basis and technical characteristics for the restoration of transport routes between Armenia and Azerbaijan. It was within the trilateral working group that agreements were reached on the basic principle of unblocking communications. And this principle is in preserving the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the states over the routes passing through their territories. This condition, as everyone knows, was approved by both Baku and Yerevan. Unfortunately, the work of the group has been frozen due to the position of the Armenian side,” the diplomat noted.