The Russian Foreign Ministry first announced plans for the consulate in May 2023 following Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian officials repeatedly visited Syunik’s capital Kapan for that purpose in the following months.
A senior Russian diplomat said in June 2024 that Moscow plans to inaugurate the mission “by the end of the year.” However, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said in November that Yerevan has still not given the final green light to its opening.
Zakharova reported further progress towards the Russian diplomatic presence in Syunik last month amid an apparent easing of tensions between Moscow and Yerevan.
“We expect that by May we will be able to reach concrete agreements on the time frames for the opening of our consular point,” she said.
No such agreements were announced as a result of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Yerevan last week. The issue was on the agenda of Lavrov’s talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.
“This topic was discussed in detail during the negotiations,” Zakharova told a news briefing on Tuesday. “We don’t need to be convinced about the need for the quick launch of works on that Russian mission abroad. There is no Russian consulate general yet in the city of Kapan. I think that in order to get an official position on why [that is the case,] you should clarify this question from the Armenian side.”
Syunik is Armenia’s sole region bordering Iran. Azerbaijani leaders have been demanding that Yerevan open a special corridor connecting Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through Syunik. Iran, which inaugurated a consulate in Kapan in late 2022, is strongly opposed to the extraterritorial sought by Baku.