A new agreement between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will allow the U.S. to establish a corridor connecting the two nations, both of which are in close proximity to Russia, with Azerbaijan sharing a border.
US President Donald Trump has announced that the leaders of the two countries are due to sign a peace agreement at the White House on Friday, potentially bringing an end to decades of conflict.
The deal is expected to have significant implications for the three powers bordering the South Caucasus - Russia, Iran and Turkey. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, has already accused the U.S. of attempting to monopolise the peace process and destabilising the region with the so-called "Trump Bridge."
Olesya Vartanyan, a specialist in conflicts and security in the South Caucasus, told Newsweek that the move is not favourable for Russia.
"The American move aids Armenia and Azerbaijan in achieving greater stability and peace - and it further cements Russia's diminishing influence in the South Caucasus, a process that began some time ago and was reinforced by the collapse of Nagorno-Karabakh amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine," she said. "Well, this is the price Russia has to pay," reports the Mirror US.
Sources told the Associated Press that the agreement would grant the U.S. leasing rights to build the 20-mile transit route, to be named "The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity," or the "Trump Bridge" as it has been dubbed by disgruntled Soviet states.
The Irish Star has also reported that the transit passage is expected to eventually include a railway, oil and gas pipelines, as well as fibre optic cables, facilitating the transport of goods and ultimately people.
The scheme would not necessitate U.S. funding for the construction of the transit route. Instead, private firms would be tasked with its development.
The corridor would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan territory, which remains isolated from the main country by a 20-mile strip of Armenian land.
Trump revealed that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would also be signing agreements with the U.S. to "pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.
"Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" the president posted Thursday night on Truth Social. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been embroiled in a conflict over the Karabakh region for nearly four decades.
This area, predominantly populated by Armenians, is internationally recognised as Nagorno-Karabakh.
The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the Soviet era, but it escalated into a full-scale war following the collapse of the USSR, with Armenia seizing control of the region in the 1990s. A ceasefire held until 2020 when Azerbaijan recaptured much of the territory during a six-week war.
In 2023, tensions reignited as Azerbaijan launched a swift offensive, regaining complete control and causing thousands of Armenians to flee the region.
Despite numerous attempts at international mediation over the years, the conflict remains unresolved due to deep-rooted historical, ethnic, and geopolitical divisions.
Trump's efforts to mediate a peace deal between the two countries mirror his previous attempts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran - two nations with an equally intricate history.
