MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Russia, Iran, Turkey and Georgia can use the transit infrastructure that will be created as part of the settlement of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Rashid Nurgaliyev said.
"The restoration of railway and auto communication to ensure transportation in the interests of Armenia and Azerbaijan is a priority. The neighboring countries - Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Georgia - can also use this infrastructure for the development of international transit," Nurgaliyev said in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
That will create "fundamental preconditions for a comprehensive solution to the old conflict in Karabakh," he said.
Experts estimate the cost of the railway connecting Turkey's Kars and Baku at $434 million. The possibility of building a branch connecting Kars to Armenia's Gyumri and Armenia's Ijevan to Baku is also under consideration.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on January 11, following talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, that the sides had signed a statement on the creation of a trilateral group on the development of economic ties and infrastructure projects in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The first meeting of the trilateral group of Russia-Azerbaijan-Armenia on unblocking economic and transport ties in Nagorno-Karabakh is expected to be held by January 30.
The need to unblock economic and transport ties in the region is stated in the last point of the trilateral statement on a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh adopted on November 9, 2020.
Aliyev said on December 31 that the Azerbaijani authorities had started working on a feasibility study for a railway connecting Horadiz, Fizuli district of Azerbaijan, and the Armenian border as part of the creation of a transport corridor between Azerbaijan and Turkey, whose construction is envisaged by the trilateral statement on Karabakh. The construction of the road will take a maximum of two years.