Azernews.Az

Qabil Ashirov

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There is a popular saying in Azerbaijani: “It’s so absurd it would make a cooked chicken laugh” or, in its English alternative,"when pigs fly". Listening to statements from Russian officials, one cannot help but recall this expression. The latest remarks by Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk regarding the TRIPP project (or the Zangezur Corridor) are no exception.

Overchuk claimed that recent regional agreements have "disrupted the regional balance that has existed since the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay."

It is difficult to comprehend this Russian obsession with historical stagnation. The world is evolving at breakneck speed, yet a Deputy Prime Minister speaks with pride about a 200-year-old status quo as if freezing time were a diplomatic achievement. Someone should remind Mr Overchuk that when the Treaty of Turkmenchay was signed in 1828, the world was just discovering the steam locomotive. Today, we are discussing Artificial Intelligence and space colonisation. Russia, however, praises a world order from two centuries ago. One wonders why they stopped at 1828 - why not go back to the era of the dinosaurs? In geopolitics, the only constant is change. History is littered with empires that either adapted to change or were swept into the dustbin of history.

Moving further, Overchuk indirectly labelled these transit projects a threat to the sovereignty of Armenia and Iran. To understand the irony here, one must look at Russian political history through an Orwellian lens. In George Orwell’s 1984, words are deleted from the dictionary to limit thought. Russia hasn't deleted the words; it has simply inverted their meanings.

Consider the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. It promised a "workers' and peasants' republic" built on justice. Yet, when the Iron Curtain fell, it became clear that Soviet workers and villagers were living in far more miserable conditions than those in the "exploitative" capitalist West. The Bolsheviks also claimed to abolish feudalism, yet they preserved its most extractive mechanisms—biar (corvée labour) and serfdom—well into the 1970s. Under the guise of the state, peasants remained tied to the land, denied passports, and paid in grain rather than wages to ensure they could never leave the village. This was not progress; it was feudalism with a red flag.

We see the same linguistic distortion in the "Democratic Republics" that Russia helped establish during the Cold War. Generally, if a country has "Democratic Republic" in its name and Russia acted as its midwife, you can be certain it is neither democratic nor a republic. More often than not, these states function as corrupt hereditary monarchies.

Now, Overchuk is attempting to frighten Armenian society, suggesting that the TRIPP project is a dagger to their sovereignty. But let us look at the reality of Armenian "sovereignty" prior to Nikol Pashinyan:

Russia guarded Armenia’s borders with Iran and Turkiye.

Russia controlled Armenia’s airspace and its primary airport.

Russian companies controlled the generation and distribution of Armenia’s electricity.

Armenia was entirely dependent on Russian gas, distributed by a Russian monopoly.

Russia operated Armenia’s railways and dominated its banking system.

In light of these facts, one must ask: What sovereignty is left to lose? Can a country truly be called sovereign when it does not guard its own borders, control its own skies, or own its own financial markets?

On the contrary, the opening of the Zangezur Corridor and the realisation of the TRIPP project will act as a catalyst for Armenian sovereignty, not a threat to it. We are witnessing a clear correlation: as Armenia seeks to normalise relations with Azerbaijan, its genuine independence grows in direct proportion to its distance from Moscow's orbit.

The practical signs of this shift are already visible. Armenia has begun reclaiming its own borders, such as taking over security at its national airport from Russian guards. However, the most significant blow to the "suffocating embrace" is occurring in the energy sector. For decades, Armenia was a captive market for Russian energy, but today it is actively diversifying its lifeline.

A pivotal element of this newfound autonomy is the emerging energy cooperation with Azerbaijan. By opening the door to importing fuel from Azerbaijan, Armenia is effectively dismantling the Russian energy monopoly that held its economy hostage for a generation. This regional integration, coupled with the landmark agreement with the United States to develop modular nuclear reactors, marks a strategic pivot toward total energy independence.

Ultimately, Armenian society must confront a harsh reality: the greatest threat to its statehood is not the TRIPP Corridor, but the reliance on Russia. It was under the rule of the pro-Russian Karabakh clique that Armenia was reduced to a peripheral outpost—isolated, impoverished, and so devoid of hope that one in every six citizens felt forced to leave the country.

A new historical reality has emerged on the shores of the Aras River. Armenia now stands at a crossroads: it can either embrace this regional integration and become a sovereign partner in a modern Caucasus, or it can allow Russia to drag it back onto the dustbin of history.