Moscow says external forces unlikely to affect Azerbaijan-Russia-Iran format

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Russia's relations with Azerbaijan and Iran are valuable and external forces can not affect those relations, said Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman of Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

Zakharova, commenting on prospects of the Azerbaijan-Iran-Russia cooperation format at a briefing on May 31, added that external forces will unlikely be able to negatively or positively affect Russia's relations with each of the two countries.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in March that Moscow is interested in intensifying cooperation as part of the Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan trilateral format.

A first-ever trilateral summit between Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia convened in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku, at the initiative of Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in August 2016. 

At the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a declaration calling for cooperation and joint efforts in combating terrorism, resolving regional conflicts, collaboration on Caspian Sea projects, and develop ties in energy, transport and other areas.

Moreover, Vladimir Putin, Hassan Rouhani, and Ilham Aliyev agreed to create relevant working groups on the areas of cooperation of mutual interest.

Tehran will host a trilateral international forum involving Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani announced on May 24.

He said the forum will be devoted to the construction of a railway, which will connect Iran to Europe via Azerbaijan and Russia.

The North-South Transport Corridor project is a 7,200 kilometers marine, surface and rail route for moving freight between India, Russia, Iran, Europe and Central Asia.  The project seeks to provide the optimal opportunities for conveying cargo from India, Iran, and the Gulf States to Azerbaijan, Russia and onwards to Northern and Western Europe.