„Zangezur-Korridor“ unter der Kontrolle eines internationalen Unternehmens?

Armenia and Azerbaijan discussed the possibility of transferring control over future communications to an international private security company at the last meeting of their foreign ministers in Washington in early July, Armenian political scientist Sergey Melkonyan said at a conference in Yerevan.

According to him, an international private company should control communications both in the territory of Armenia and in the territory of Nakhchivan and Azerbaijan. This also implies border and customs control.

According to Melkonyan, Tehran sees such developments as a threat to its interests in the region.

Let us recall that during the recent meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Iranian spiritual leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran, the latter openly stated that the Zangezur corridor is not in Armenia’s interests. Such a frank statement by the Iranian leader means that Armenia is close to accepting the idea of ​​transferring communications under the control of an international company, which clearly does not suit Tehran.

Considering that the idea of ​​international control over the Zangezur corridor was discussed in Washington, it can be assumed that the West developed and proposed to the parties the idea of ​​the head of the European Council Charles Michel from May 2023 to involve the International Customs Organization in the management of the Zangezur corridor.

Apparently, this issue was one of those discussed this week in Baku and Tehran by the head of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu. Indirect confirmation of this is the phrase Shoigu said after a meeting with Ilham Aliyev that “the West cannot be allowed into the South Caucasus.”

Meanwhile, no one has disclosed any information about the format, composition, or powers of this international company. In any case, it will become an alternative to the border forces of the Russian FSB, which were supposed to take control of this road under the trilateral agreement of November 9-10, 2020.