We have said in the past that if Azerbaijan wants Armenia to enter into a dialogue on the Karabakh issue, it must offer an economic project that would benefit Armenia. Russian analyst Vladimir Lepekhin told this to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
Our interlocutor said that at that time, "the ball” was “in Yerevan's court," it could have considered the possibility of participating in the economic project, and a dialogue would have started between the two sides.
But in the current situation when Azerbaijan has resolved some of its problems through military aggression, this transport project, according to Lepekhin, is now considered goodwill. Moreover, its main beneficiary is Azerbaijan, as most of the route will pass through its territory and will be overseen by it.
"The benefit for Armenia is not as obvious as for Azerbaijan. Armenia has other alternative transport links with Russia—via the same Georgia. There is no urgent need for a direct transport link between Russia and Armenia, given Armenia's small export potential so that it will be vitally interested in entering the Russian market directly. But Azerbaijan is interested in having a direct link with Nakhichevan, there be a direct link with Turkey, to be represented in the southern part of Armenia.
Baku must convince the Armenian side that this is not a purely Azerbaijani benefit, but truly a step towards Armenia," Vladimir Lepekhin added.