Wednesday, June 1, 2022
EU Head Reacts To Armenian-Azeri ‘Tensions’
June 01, 2022
Greece - European Council President Charles Michel speaks during an event in 
Alexandroupolis, May 3, 2022.
European Council President Charles Michel seemed to confirm late on Tuesday 
Armenia’s assertions that it has not agreed to open a permanent land corridor 
that will connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave.
Michel was also understood to deny advocating Nagorno-Karabakh’s return under 
Azerbaijani rule during his trilateral meeting with Armenian Prime Minister 
Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held in Brussels on May 
22.
Aliyev said after the summit that he and Pashinian agreed to open a “Zangezur 
corridor” that will consist of a road and railway connecting Nakhichevan to the 
rest of Azerbaijan. He had demanded earlier that people and cargo using them be 
exempt from Armenian border controls.
Pashinian and other Armenian officials denied Aliyev’s claim, saying that 
Yerevan will not open any extraterritorial corridors. They insisted that the two 
sides reached understandings only on conventional transport links.
“Both parties confirmed [at Brussels] there were no extraterritorial claims with 
regard to future transport infrastructure. Speculation to the contrary is 
regrettable,” Michel’s spokesman, Barend Leyts, said in a statement.
Commenting on “the past days' tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Leyts 
also sought to clarify Michel’s remarks made right after the Brussels talks.
“President Michel's statement on outcomes of the leaders meeting on 22 May 
should not be interpreted as favoring a predetermined outcome of discussions 
either way,” he said.
The European Union’s top official said early on May 23 that “the rights and 
security of the ethnic Armenian population in Karabakh” should also be addressed 
during upcoming negotiations on an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
Armenian opposition leaders and Karabakh’s leadership denounced the remark. They 
accused Michel of undermining the Karabakh Armenians’ right to 
self-determination by portraying them as an ethnic minority not eligible for 
independent statehood.
“In President Michel's opinion, all core issues that had led to the first 
Nagorno-Karabakh war as well as to the renewed hostilities in 2020 will need to 
be addressed by all stakeholders to create conditions for lasting and equitable 
peace,” stressed Leyts.
Late last week, Aliyev warned the Armenian side against insisting on an 
agreement on Karabakh’s status. He said Baku could respond by laying claim to 
Armenian territory. The Armenian Foreign Ministry denounced the threat.
Saudi Arabia, Armenia Again Signal Warming Ties
June 01, 2022
Saudi Arabia - Saudi and Armenian national flags fly at Riyad airport during the 
arrival of Armenian President Armen Sarkissian, October 27, 2021.
Armenia voiced support on Wednesday for Saudi Arabia’s bid to host the Expo 2030 
world fair in another sign of rapprochement between the two states that have no 
diplomatic relations.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced the endorsement in a phone call with 
Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir.
The Armenian Foreign Ministry said the two men discussed “prospects for the 
development of relations” between their nations and stressed the importance of 
promoting bilateral trade and “investment projects.”
“Minister Mirzoyan informed his interlocutor that Armenia supports Saudi 
Arabia's application to hold World Expo 2030 in Riyadh,” the ministry added in a 
statement.
Mirzoyan made that clear one week after Russia, Armenia’s closest ally, withdrew 
its formal request to host the global event. Moscow said the selection process 
cannot be fair because of the West’s efforts to isolate it on the world stage 
over the war in Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia has for decades refused to establish diplomatic relations with 
Armenia due to its conflict with Muslim Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The 
oil-rich kingdom signaled a change in that policy after its relations with 
Armenia’s arch-foe and Azerbaijan’s ally Turkey deteriorated significantly 
several years ago.
Saudi Arabia - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman talks to Armenian 
President Armen Sarkissian during the Future Investment Initiative forum in 
Riyadh, October 26, 2021.
The policy change was highlighted last October by then Armenian President Armen 
Sarkissian’s visit to Riyadh. Sarkissian sat next to Saudi Arabia’s de facto 
ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, at the opening ceremony of an 
international conference held there.
Riyadh signaled more overtures to Yerevan in February this year when Saudi 
Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Mirzoyan held talks on the 
sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
It was the first-ever face-to-face meeting of the top diplomats of the two 
countries. The Saudi Foreign Ministry said they “reviewed bilateral relations in 
various fields” and explored “opportunities to enhance bilateral coordination.”
It remains unclear whether the kingdom is now ready for a full normalization of 
Saudi-Armenian relations.
Aliyev, Pashinian Brief Putin On Brussels Talks
June 01, 2022
Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol 
Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meet in Sochi, November 26, 
2021.
In separate phone calls, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have briefed 
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the results of their latest meeting held in 
Brussels on May 22.
According the Kremlin, Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev spoke on 
Tuesday “at the initiative of the Azerbaijani side.” The Russian leader phoned 
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on Wednesday.
The Kremlin’s readouts of the calls said they presented to Putin details of 
their trilateral meeting in Brussels with European Council President Charles 
Michel. It was the second Armenian-Azerbaijani summit hosted by Michel in less 
than two months.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Armenian and Azerbaijani 
counterparts the day after the May 22 summit. The Russian Foreign Ministry 
afterwards again criticized the European Union’s mediation efforts.
The ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, accused the EU of trying to “wedge” 
into the implementation of Armenian-Azerbaijani agreements brokered by Moscow 
earlier.
The agreements call for the demarcation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and 
the opening of transport links between the two South Caucasus states. Putin 
discussed their implementation with Aliyev and Pashinian.
An Armenian government statement said Putin welcomed the first session of an 
Armenian-Azerbaijani commission on the demarcation held on the border on May 24. 
It reaffirmed that the next session of the commission will be held in Moscow but 
gave no dates.
The statement said Putin and Pashinian agreed on the need to step up activities 
of a separate Russian-Armenian-Azerbaijani task force dealing with practical 
modalities of the transport links. It said they also discussed the possibility 
of kick-starting the work of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh co-headed 
by the United States, Russia and France.
Moscow says that Washington and Paris stopped cooperating with it in the Minsk 
Group format after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. U.S. and French officials 
have not denied that.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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