Russia has helped Armenia and Azerbaijan reach an agreement on a road in the "Zangezur corridor." A 6km small road section remains to be agreed, a high-ranking source familiar with the situation told Izvestia daily of Russia.
According to this source, the Avtodor—the Russian state infrastructure and highway service company—will help to complete the coordination of this route, and the delay is due to the mountainous terrain. The Soviet-era roads will be used for the remaining 40 kilometers of this route. The source states: "Yerevan accelerated the approval of the project after Baku planned not to build a route through Armenia, but through Iran."
"Unblocking" means the construction of a transport corridor in the Syunik Province of Armenia, along the southern border between Armenia and Iran. It will connect the main part of Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan autonomous region.
One of the sources noted: "Azerbaijan and Armenia have long agreed on a railway corridor to Nakhchivan, back in the fall of last year. But at the last meeting of the deputy prime ministers on June 3, they were able to agree on a future route—except for the missing 6km section."
In the rest, according to the interlocutor, the old Soviet roads will be used, which until 1992 connected Nakhchivan with Azerbaijan via Armenia.
Izvestia’s interlocutor noted that the Armenian side accelerated the negotiation process after Baku signed a memorandum with Tehran in March on the plan to build a road from Azerbaijan's East Zangazur economic zone to Nakhchivan—and via Iran.
