‘No clear agreements’ on Pashinyan-Aliyev-Putin summit

After Russian and Armenian officials gave apparently contradictory statements about a rumoured summit between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia, a Kremlin spokesperson said that a video summit is being ‘prepared’ but there are ‘no clear agreements’. 

‘We have confirmed that work is underway to prepare for such a meeting, but we would like to note that there are no clear agreements and understandings about when such a video conferencing can take place yet’, reads a Monday statement from Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov.

On Saturday, Peskov had said that an online meeting between the three leaders was expected to be held this week.  

The statement was apparently contradicted shortly thereafter by an Armenian government spokesperson who told Armenia’s Public Radio Broadcaster that ‘for now’ no meeting of the leaders was planned. 

Later the same day, speaking with the Armenian Public Broadcaster, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan appeared to clarify the statement, stating that ‘at the moment’ there is no agreement over holding a summit ‘on 9 November’. 

In previous weeks, several Russian and Armenian outlets, citing diplomatic sources, reported that a new agreement concerning the opening of communication links and border demarcation and delimitation would be announced on 9 November, the anniversary of the tripartite peace declaration that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War.

[Read more: Unnamed sources claim Armenia and Azerbaijan close signing new agreement ]

Much of the recent tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan appears to stem from disagreements over the implementation of the agreement, which stipulates the ‘unblocking’ of regional transportation and includes ‘connections’ going through Armenian territory that connect the western regions of Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan. 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has referred to the ‘connections’ as the ‘Zangezur corridor’ and threatened to open it ‘by force’. Pashinyan, however, has been adamant that there would not be a ‘corridor’ through Armenian territory.

During a visit to Yerevan last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk commented on ongoing discussions between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia. Overchuk stated that there is an agreement that regional communications such as roads and railways will remain under the jurisdiction of the countries they pass through.