Baku’s claims of ‘Zangezur corridor’ came as surprise for Armenia – Armenian deputy minister

In the trilateral working group at the level of the deputy prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, the parties “had mutual understanding on the issues of restoration and unblocking of the railway infrastructure,” Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said in an interview with TASS.

“There was an understanding that the sovereignty of the roads will be maintained by the countries through which they pass, and those roads will in their turn be under the jurisdiction of the country through which they pass. There were nuances left on other issues,” he stressed.

Grigoryan said Azerbaijan’s statement on the so-called “Zangezur Corridor” in the border region of Syunik was unexpected for the Armenian government, but Yerevan hopes that the work of the deputy prime ministers on regional unblocking will continue under the already agreed principles.

“The last statement of official Baku was unexpected for us. It was supposed that we would continue the work of [the working group] in the coming days. I hope the situation will return to a constructive level. We will continue to work based on the basic principles that have already been agreed,” he said. He added that all the meetings of the working group have so far passed in “constructive dialogue.”