YEREVAN. June 5 (Interfax) - Armenia has decided to end traffic control by the Russian Federal Security Service's Border Service as economic and transport links with Azerbaijan are unblocked, Armenian Security Council Secretary Armen Grigoryan said.
"There is one important detail of the unblocking [process] which I believe is obvious to all partners involved. Armenia will be in full control of the border and border services. I mean that, in the context of Armenia, unblocking means only Armenia will manage border services," Grigoryan said on Armenian Public Television.
A statement signed by the heads of Armenia, Russia, and Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, says that "All economic and transport connections in the region will be unblocked. The Republic of Armenia will guarantee the security of transport connections between the western regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to arrange unobstructed movement of individuals, vehicles and cargo in both directions. The Border Guard Service of the Russian Federal Security Service will be responsible for overseeing the transport connections."
"The position of Armenia is crystal clear," Grigoryan said.
"Hopefully, [Azerbaijan and Russia] have taken this into consideration and will rely on this principle in their further actions," he said.
Deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Moscow on June 2. "Considerable progress was made in coordinating of modalities of the unblocking of transport communications between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said after the meeting. "In particular, a common understanding of the implementation of specific steps to restore and organize railroad traffic on the Yeraskh-Dzhulfa-Megri-Goradiz route was reached," he said.