YEREVAN, Armenia (Neutralecho) — Vice President JD Vance landed in Armenia on Monday, becoming the first sitting U.S. vice president or president to do so. His visit comes as the administration seeks to solidify a U.S.-brokered agreement aimed at resolving a decades-long conflict with Azerbaijan.
Upon arrival, Vance and his wife, Usha, were welcomed with a red carpet, an honor guard, and a group of Armenian officials. As he traveled, demonstrators could be seen holding signs such as, “Does Trump support Devils?”
Vance’s schedule includes a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who signed an agreement at the White House in August to reopen critical transportation routes previously closed due to conflict. This agreement reaffirmed both countries' commitment to establishing a peace treaty. The treaty text was initialed by foreign ministers, indicating preliminary approval, though it still awaits signature from the leaders and ratification by parliaments.
Following his visit to Yerevan, Vance will head to Azerbaijan.
Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are participating in President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace, initially created to mediate the Gaza ceasefire but now planned to address broader regional issues.
The peace initiative aims to construct a significant transit corridor, referred to as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which is anticipated to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave and through Armenian territory — a key factor in decades-long territorial disputes.
This land corridor was crucial in addressing a conflict that lasted nearly forty years over the disputed control of the Karabakh region, also known as Nagorno-Karabakh. This area had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, supported by Armenia, since a ceasefire in 1994. Following a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan regained parts of the region before launching a military operation in September 2023 that resulted in the full capitulation of separatist forces and mass displacement of the Armenian population.
