In exchange for what is Russia leaving Armenia's borders?

Starting January 1, 2025, Russian border guards will cease their service at the checkpoint on the Armenia-Iran border. This agreement was reached during a meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Border Directorate in Armenia includes four border detachments—Gyumri, Armavir, Artashat, and Meghri.

It is noted that Nikol Pashinyan presented the "Crossroads of the World" program at the meeting. This is an alternative proposed by Yerevan to the Zangezur transport corridor, which runs through Armenia's Syunik region and connects Azerbaijan with its exclave, the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

As a result, the issue of Russian border guards securing the Zangezur corridor is no longer on the agenda. This could strengthen Yerevan's position in negotiations with Baku regarding the security regime.

Political commentator Ilham Ismayil discussed this in the program "Difficult Question," hosted by Kamran Mahmudov. According to him, it was previously known that control over the Zangezur corridor (the transport link between Azerbaijan’s western regions and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic) was supposed to be handled by the Russian FSB Border Service, as stated in Article 9 of the "Statement by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, and the President of the Russian Federation" from November 10, 2020.

The expert reminded that an agreement was recently reached between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin that, starting from January 1, 2025, Russian border guards would no longer guard the checkpoint at the Armenia-Iran border, and control over the border will be fully assumed by Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) border forces. In addition, the NSS will participate in guarding Armenia's borders with Iran and Turkey.

Ismayil also pointed out that there are no Russian border guards at Armenia's border with Georgia, the border with Turkey is closed, and Russia had previously announced that Armenian border guards would not be allowed to guard the Turkish border. As for the border with Azerbaijan, no checkpoint exists there.

Thus, the presence of Armenian border guards at the Meghri checkpoint, between Armenia and Iran, has already been secured. However, this checkpoint is not part of the Zangezur corridor, where transit will have a completely different nature. According to the November 10, 2020, statement, control over this corridor should be carried out by Russia.

Following his meeting with Putin, Pashinyan spoke at the "Crossroads of the World: Uniting Security and Democracy" conference, stating that "representatives of the Russian FSB may be granted only a monitoring role over the road in Syunik" (the Zangezur corridor).

This raises the question of the nature of this monitoring, assuming Russia agrees to it—will it be military or humanitarian? Will the monitoring be conducted by military personnel or civilians?

"However, it is doubtful that Russia will agree to the humanitarian nature of monitoring in Zangezur," Ismayil believes.