YEREVAN (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed a strategic partnership agreement in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Tuesday, less than two weeks before parliamentary elections in the South Caucasus country.
They also signed a framework agreement on critical minerals and another on cooperation on a proposed 43-km (27-mile) transit corridor that would run across southern Armenia and give Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave of Nakhchevan and in turn to Turkey, Baku’s closest ally.
The meeting, held at Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport during a brief stopover by Rubio, comes days before a June 7 election pitting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party, which is pursuing closer ties with the West, against an array of opposition parties, many of which are pro-Russian.
Ahead of Rubio’s brief visit, the Kremlin said on Monday Armenia could lose the “very attractive” price it pays for Russian gas if it turned away from integration with Russia.
