Agreements planned in US do not meet Yerevan’s interests — Konstantin Zatulin

The agreements planned for the meeting in the United States between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev do not meet Yerevan’s interests, Konstantin Zatulin, first deputy chair of the State Duma Committee on CIS Affairs, told TASS, commenting on the terms of the forthcoming peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan.

Recent media reports suggest that, as part of the peace deal, the United States has proposed placing the management of the so-called “Zangezur corridor”—a 40-kilometer transport route connecting mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan—under the control of a private company.

“This cannot be beneficial to Armenia in any way, unless of course we are talking about Pashinyan personally, as he does not think in terms of national interests. He is attempting to build Armenia and himself into the Western world, while abandoning national interests. This certainly corresponds to the interests of Azerbaijan and Turkey,” the MP said.

The parliamentarian noted that if the cost for mediation in the peace agreement involves transferring control of the so-called “Zangezur corridor” under US control, it would become a threat to Iran as well.

“This is certainly the interest of the United States and to some extent the interest of Israel, because the Zangezur corridor and the unity between Azerbaijan and Turkey, of course, threatens not only us, but also Iran,” the MP said.