Armenia delays negotiations on the creation of a transport corridor between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, Russia's Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Mikhail Yevdokimov, said in an interview with Izvestia newspaper, Report informs.
The diplomat emphasized that this topic is very important for the Azerbaijani side: "This is the existence of a stable transport route and transport roads between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. During the first Karabakh war, all connections were cut, and the electricity supply to Nakhchivan was stopped. Therefore, the safety of the route (about 46 km) is not an abstract issue for Azerbaijan."
According to the ambassador, there are tunnels and a bridge on this route: "The Russian Federation was ready to restore it quickly enough at its own expense. For various reasons that are not clear to me, the Armenian side is delaying the negotiations. As a result, last year an agreement was signed between Baku and Tehran on the construction of a railway passing through the territory of Iran. It's a little longer there—60 km or so—and the route is more complicated, but these things are already underway. During all these years, road freight transportation between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan passed through the territory of Iran.
Moreover, this is the route to Türkiye. Now the main thing is to build railways from Türkiye to Nakhchivan, a double road is planned—European and Soviet. Accordingly, we will be able to transport cargo from Russia to Türkiye via Azerbaijan, Iran, and Nakhchivan."
