Speculations of Pashinyan about Corridor

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused Azerbaijan of creating a checkpoint in the Lachin corridor, which in his opinion contradicts paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement (TS) of November 9, 2020.

He also expressed categorical disagreement with the fact that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev called the Azerbaijan-Armenia-Nakhchivan transport communication the Zangezur corridor. Pashinyan categorically opposed the classification of this transport artery as a "corridor" and referred to TS to substantiate his statement, claiming that the road through Zangezur is not listed as a corridor. He designated this route as a transport communication, which, according to him, is called the "Armenian crossroads" in Armenia.

As for the term corridor (meaning Zangezur), I also used it in relation to the North-South, East-West corridor. The use of the term "corridor" is not an encroachment on someone's territory. This is an international term, Aliyev replied.

Then, returning to the topic of the Lachin corridor, Pashinyan stated that Azerbaijan illegally blocked this corridor in the presence of Russian peacekeepers (RPK).

Aliyev explained that the Azerbaijani checkpoint is 20 steps away from the RPK post. There are no obstacles. Ethnic Armenians living in Azerbaijan move freely in both directions.

We initiated the creation of the Zangezur Corridor. It is our right to initiate. It is supported by the Russian Federation and other mediators involved in the process, Aliyev said.

Pashinyan took the floor again: the Lachin corridor should be under the control of the RPK, that is, no one else in this corridor can exercise control. Everything that happens there is a direct violation of the TS.

Vladimir Putin, who was tired of the controversy, tried to close the topic: Terminology is important, but it is much more important that there is an agreement on the fundamental issue of recognition of territorial integrity (between Azerbaijan and Armenia).

Pashinyan, catching the mood of the Kremlin's host, said: We are ready to open regional communications within the framework of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass. I am referring to the transport and economic ties provided for in paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statements of November 9, 2020, and January 11, 2021.

So, in order:

Paragraph 3 of the TS of November 9 , 2020 reads as follows: A peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation is being deployed along the Line of Contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. Pay attention "along the Lachin corridor", and not in the corridor.

Further, paragraph 6 states the Lachin corridor (5 km wide), which will provide a link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia and will not affect the city of Shusha, remains under the control of the peacekeeping contingent of the Russian Federation. What form of control is in question is not disclosed. Here it is possible to understand this, as well as the presence within the boundaries of the corridor, and to carry out visual observation outside the boundaries of the corridor. According to the logic of the TS, the RPK should be located along the corridor and, thus, conduct surveillance. But the reality is that, in violation of TS, peacekeepers are in the Lachin corridor. Aliyev said that the RPK post is located 20 steps from the checkpoint of the border service of Azerbaijan.

Paragraph 6 also states that, by agreement of the Parties, a plan for the construction of a new route along the Lachin corridor will be determined in the next three years, providing a link between Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia, with the subsequent redeployment of the Russian peacekeeping contingent to protect this route.

The Republic of Azerbaijan guarantees the safety of movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo along the Lachin corridor in both directions. First, the new route has been put into effect. Secondly, it is noted that the is being relocated to protect the new route, but not to control it.

As for paragraph 9, to which Pashinyan refers, Azerbaijan has not violated it.

Paragraph 9 reads: All economic and transport links in the region are unblocked. The Republic of Armenia guarantees the safety of transport communication between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic in order to organize the unhindered movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions. Control over transport communication is carried out by the bodies of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia.

Aliyev noted that Azerbaijan did not block the Lachin corridor, but established a checkpoint within its jurisdiction on its internationally recognized territory and does not prevent the movement of Armenian citizens of Azerbaijan (the talk is about residents of Azerbaijan at the beginning of the conflict and their descendants) and humanitarian goods. And it really is. The campaign that began at the end of last year in the Armenian society that Azerbaijan has blocked a humanitarian crisis in the Armenian-populated territory of Karabakh (APTK) and that the population is on the verge of death has not passed the test of time. The population lives in a normal mode, the facts of death from hunger and cold were not recorded in the information network. This means that the guarantees given by Azerbaijan in accordance with paragraph 9 are being fulfilled. And on the part of Armenia, everything is not so. Armenia has not unblocked transport communications and has not ensured the unhindered movement of citizens and vehicles through Zangezur in both directions.

What is a Corridor?

Now,  about the term corridor in relation to the Zangezur transport section.

It is no coincidence that the international concept of "TS" is considered a system. It consists of numerous nodes and organizations that establish its activities. These are logisticians, employees of railway stations, customs, and tax inspection. Each organization performs its functions, but for the most part it is an analysis of the work of the entire system, ways to find more convenient and faster delivery methods, the legality and taxation of a certain turnover.

The Zangezur communication after its activation will inevitably receive the status of a corridor as indicated in the description above. Secondly, given the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it will require the use of an increased degree of route security. And finally, thirdly, it is an integral part of the International Transport Corridors (ITC) North-South and TRACECA. And unlike the Lachin corridor, which is both a local and a national corridor, as it is intended for internal use within the jurisdiction of Azerbaijan, the Zangezur corridor has international significance. And any attempts to block it will have an appropriate reaction from the transnational centers interested in its opening.

Two international transport corridors (ITC) pass through the territory of Russia: “Transsib” (Asia-Russia-Europe) with three branches from Russia to Kazakhstan and China, the Korean Peninsula, Mongolia. "North-South" with three branches: through Kazakhstan, through the Caspian Sea, through Azerbaijan with access to the border of Iran (Astara) and Armenia (Zangezur). That is, in fact, Zangezur is an integral part of the North-South ITC and not only.

Due to the fact that the Russian North-South and European TRACECA intersect in Azerbaijan, further European traffic will also move south through Astara and Zangezur with access to Iran and beyond.

As the TRACECA website notes, thus, the international East-West transport corridors pass through Azerbaijan (within this corridor TMTM, Lapis Lazuli, Black Sea-Caspian Sea, China-Uzbekistan-Azerbaijan), Northwest, North-South and Southwest.

It should be noted that in the Soviet years, even within the framework of a single country, the Zangezur (Megri) transport section was called a corridor. Vladimir Egorov, Director of the Scientific school "Economic Theory" of Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and Vladimir Stoll, Professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in the article "Transport corridors. The geopolitical aspect" notes that thanks to the reached TS between Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia, the "transport corridor" that functioned under the USSR, connecting Azerbaijan with the Nakhichevan enclave, can be restored.

On March 30, 2023, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin instructed to finalize plans for their expansion by the end of the first half of the year, priority transport and logistics routes - "North-South", the Azov—Black Sea and eastern directions. The government plans to direct most of its efforts to the development of the international multimodal transport corridor "North-South", which will connect Russia with Iran and India.

In October 2022, the North-South transport corridor was discussed at the II Caspian Economic Forum. The multimodal route will help the Russian Federation to rebuild logistics chains and enter the markets of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. From the five states of the Caspian region, since the autumn of 2022, Mishustin has twice visited Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, as well as Armenia, along which one of the branches of the route (Zangezur) passes.

Let's summarize the results. It follows from all this that Pashinyan should make claims about the corridor status of the 42-kilogram Zangezur transport section of the North-South ITC not to Azerbaijan in the person of Aliyev, but to Russia in the person of Putin and the European Union in the person of Charles Michel.