How Trumps Armenia-Azerbaijan deal gives US key leverage over Russia

WASHINGTON — A Trump-brokered peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan represents a major breakthrough after decades of fighting between the neighboring nations — and offers the US “leverage” over Russia, an expert tells The Post.The deal calls for the creation of a 20-mile transit corridor, modestly labeled the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” that will allow Azerbaijanis direct access to their country’s westernmost region, explained Hudson Institute senior fellow Luke Coffey.“If you look at a map of Azerbaijan, it’s in two chunks — you have Azerbaijan proper and then there’s Nakhchivan, which is an enclave,” Coffey said.“Think of it like the United States and Alaska, but instead of having Canada in between, you have Armenia.”With Azerbaijan and Armenia at war since the late 1980s, Azerbaijanis have not been allowed to pass through Yerevan’s territory — forcing much longer trade trips to reach Nakhchivan.In 2020, Russia — which has relations with both nations — oversaw an agreement to open a transit route through this region, “not for [Azerbaijan] to control it, but to open it, like in the same way we can ship goods to Alaska through Canada,” Coffey said.“This never happened, though, because Russia as the power broker failed to implement it,” he explained.Armenia — once heavily supported by Moscow — became frustrated, and the bad feelings grew in 2023 when Russia failed to come to its defense during a push by Azerbaijan to retake the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia had occupied for more than 20 years.The deal announced by Trump Friday — which also gives the US exclusive development rights along the new route — would allow Washington to fill the void left by Moscow, further distancing Russia from its former possessions in West Asia as Vladimir Putin pursues expansionist goals in Ukraine.Putin has long lamented the fall of the Soviet regime, which he has called the “disintegratio...