The response of the Armenian foreign ministry to the statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is another example of Yerevan's policy of blaming others for its own mistakes, attributing its own strategic miscalculations to others, in particular to Russia. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this during Wednesday’s weekly press briefing.

"But their politics are set in such a way that they just have to blame someone else, anyone, for their own failures.

Let me remind how item 9 sounds, or the statement of the leaders of Russia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, which Lavrov cited.

‘All economic and transport communications in the region are unblocked. Armenia guarantees the safety of transport communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to organize the unhindered movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions. The border service of the FSB of Russia carries out the control over transport communications.’

In this direction, a lot of work has been done within the framework of the tripartite working group on unblocking economic and transport communications in the South Caucasus, under the co-chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.

A total of 12 meetings were held, with the results of which significant progress was made.

Thus, at the request of the Armenian side, it was decided not to connect the operation of [regional] railway communication with road communication.

During the last meeting held in Moscow on June 2, 2023, the principles of sovereignty and jurisdiction of the parties over the routes passing through the territory were confirmed, which was insisted by Yerevan itself.

I hope those who posted the abovementioned comment will have enough time to comment on this one as well.

At the same time, it was not possible to reach a final agreement on the start of railway communication precisely because of the intransigence of the Armenian side in border control issues.

Yerevan departed from the previously agreed positions and began to insist, as they worded, the principle of reciprocity in the matter of the presence of Russian border guards, demanding that they be not only on the Armenian side, but also on the Azerbaijani side. It is unclear what they were referring to because I just quoted from the text of the new treaty.

The representatives of Armenia refused to reach an agreement on the control of transport communications with the forces of the border service of the Russian FSB.

In addition to that, Yerevan has not made any commitment regarding the launch dates of the automobile route between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan.

As a result, the Armenian authorities, at the behest of their new Western friends, effectively froze joint work in the tripartite working group. But it did not lead to any practical results in the interests of Armenia in terms of unblocking communications.

Unfortunately, Yerevan is once again acting at the behest of the West, missing not only the opportunity to establish transport links with its neighbors for the benefit of its own economy, including through the implementation of its concept of the ‘Crossroads of Peace,’ but also for the sake of normalizing the situation in the region as a whole.

We [i.e. Russia] remain committed to the high-level tripartite statements reached in 2020-2022.

The multiplex of these agreements is the only basis without an alternative for achieving the Armenian-Azerbaijani normalization [of relations], stability, security, and prosperity in the South Caucasus.

We call on the authorities of Yerevan not to allow the West to spoil the long-term efforts to establish sustainable peace in Transcaucasia.

This is especially urgent, taking into account the obsession of the USA and the EU, imbued with the idea of pushing Russia out of the South Caucasus and driving a wedge in our relations with Armenia and other countries of the region," Zakharova noted.