Armenia defends sovereignty in regional transport negotiations

By Elen Muradyan

The Armenian Foreign Ministry responded on Thursday to a recent analysis by Olesya Vartanyan of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which suggests that the United States is advancing its own proposal to Armenia and Azerbaijan on unblocking regional transport routes.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan confirmed that multiple international actors have been making proposals on this issue, which remains a key priority for Yerevan. “The unblocking of transport infrastructure in the South Caucasus has been and remains an important priority for Armenia,” Badalyan said. “Armenia has proposed its vision for regional connectivity—the ‘Crossroads of Peace’—which has already received positive reactions from a number of international partners.” She added that Armenia has presented a range of practical solutions in line with this initiative, aimed at being acceptable to all involved parties. Discussions, she emphasized, are ongoing with various partners, including the U.S., to achieve mutually beneficial results and unlock the region’s crossroad potential.

Vardanyan’s report, citing diplomatic sources, suggests that the U.S. is actively promoting a connectivity framework that could bypass the longstanding and controversial plan by Azerbaijan and Turkey to establish a sovereign corridor through Armenia’s Syunik region. According to the report, the U.S. proposal envisions placing control of the transport route under a U.S.-based operating company, which would manage logistics and share data with all sides, aiming to provide a neutral and stabilizing mechanism.

The Armenian government has consistently emphasized that any agreement on regional transport must respect its territorial sovereignty, legal jurisdiction, and security. Officials have not commented directly on the U.S. model, but have reiterated that customs and border control must remain fully under Armenian authority.