National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan responded to remarks made by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin, who suggested Russian involvement in the TRIPP initiative. Simonyan made it clear that the project is a bilateral Armenia–U.S. framework, not open to other participants.

“How do you envision Russia’s participation in TRIPP? It’s an Armenia–U.S. initiative,” Simonyan stated, according to Pastinfo. He emphasized that TRIPP is not the only route through Armenian territory, and movement of goods such as flour, wheat, or fuel already occurs outside the TRIPP framework.

“If Russia wants to propose infrastructure-related projects, Armenia can consider them, discuss, and possibly implement them,” he added.

Simonyan also explained that mechanisms similar to TRIPP have long been on the table, but real progress and cooperation materialized only with the United States.

“We had discussed this type of mechanism long ago. It just happened to work out with the U.S., and it has become a cornerstone of peace, thanks to the American President,” Simonyan said.

Referring to Russia’s longstanding presence in Armenia, he added pointedly: “Now they say, ‘let us in too’. Well, you’ve been here for 100 years, why didn’t you do it?”

Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently signed a document in Washington confirming joint work under the TRIPP framework. The published document outlines the launch procedure of the initiative and notes that the framework does not create legal obligations for either Armenia or the U.S.