Armenia’s Crossroads of Peace requires peace treaty with Azerbaijan, says Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Armenia’s Crossroads of Peace project can be implemented in the event of Yerevan’s normalization with Turkiye as well as signing of the peace deal with Baku. 

He made the comments at a forum in Moscow.

“The Armenian side has developed an initiative called Crossroads of Peace, seeking to include its territory and logistic opportunities in major continental processes. If we speak about this, then we are in favor of all infrastructure projects to develop,” Lavrov said.

Practically, he said, the implementation of this project requires Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace treaty.

“We sincerely wish them success in this issue. It is obvious that the finalization of that agreement was possible thanks to several trilateral summits between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. We are ready to provide further support if both sides are interested,” Lavrov said.

He said he was briefed on the Crossroads of Peace during his recent visit to Armenia. 

He also addressed the Armenia-Turkiye normalization process, stating that conflict settlement and unblocking of transport of economic links that had been blocked due to these conflicts would help promote regional competitiveness.

Earlier in March, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to the terms of the peace treaty. Armenia announced readiness to sign the peace agreement as soon as possible, but Azerbaijan has been stalling the process ever since by making various preconditions.