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• Azerbaijani outlets allege Georgia is using tariffs and border delays to undermine the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process and the planned TRIPP trade corridor.
• Tbilisi denies obstructionism, framing recent actions as isolated incidents and offering limited goodwill gestures.
• The dispute highlights how shifting trade routes and geopolitics are straining long-standing relationships in the South Caucasus.

The prospect of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan appears to be fueling a feud between Baku and its other South Caucasus neighbor, Georgia. 

Two media outlets in Azerbaijan that are often seen as reflecting official thinking have published a series of scathing reports in recent weeks, accusing the Georgian government of obstructing Azerbaijani trade. The reports contend Georgia is acting purposefully to undermine the provisional Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal signed in Washington in August. 

There appear to be multiple motives driving Tbilisi’s actions, the Azerbaijani media pieces indicate: one, Georgian officials are worried that the planned TRIPP trade corridor, the centerpiece of the peace agreement, will render existing routes traversing Georgia obsolete; and two, Tbilisi may be doing the Kremlin’s bidding to keep both Yerevan and Baku firmly in Russia’s geopolitical and economic orbit. 

As Armenian and Azerbaijani officials work slowly to finalize the peace deal and TRIPP’s operational details, Azerbaijani truck- and rail-borne international trade remains heavily dependent on Georgia. Direct links between Armenia and Azerbaijan were severed amid decades of conflict and will require lots of investment to restore.

“Today, Georgia is effectively acting against the formation of a stable regional peace architecture and mutually beneficial economic ties,” stated a December 5 commentary published by Minval Politika. “At a time when the South Caucasus has a unique chance to move from the logic of conflict to the logic of development, Tbilisi’s behavior looks like an attempt to slow down this transition.”

The roots of the brewing Azerbaijani-Georgian spat stretch back to September, when complaints about Georgian harassment of Azerbaijani truck drivers at border checkpoints began to reach Baku.  

An article published by Caliber asserted that “drivers were being stopped without clear reasons” and were experiencing lengthy delays. The piece noted that several Azerbaijani truckers were told by Georgian border officials to “go through Zangezur,” a pointed reference to the planned TRIPP corridor. “Against the backdrop of Georgia’s decades-long monopoly in regional logistics, even the possibility of an alternative route is perceived in Tbilisi as a painful development,” the Caliber report noted.

Tension spiked in early December following a meeting of a joint commission on border issues. At that meeting, Baku reportedly raised the issue of exporting oil and petroleum products via Georgia to Armenia, asking for Georgia to determine transit fees for such shipments. Georgian officials came back with an exorbitantly high tariff rate, far higher than rates already being paid by Baku for the transit of other goods, according to a Minval Politika report, which described Tbilisi’s stance as designed “to break the peace.” 

Georgian officials have dismissed claims of obstructionism. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze insisted there “was only one truck delay. And that too for a specific reason.” He went on to state that Georgia was “ready to have a very friendly conversation about all possible difficulties.” 

Later, Kobakhidze ordered Georgian Railways to facilitate the transport of Azerbaijani fuel to Armenia tariff-free as a one-time goodwill gesture. “We have always been and are supporters of peace and cooperation in the region,” the Ministry of Economy announced in a statement.

But the gesture did not mollify Baku. A December 10 commentary published by Minval Politika argued that Azerbaijan was still waiting for a “serious approach,” rather than “one-time gestures of goodwill.” It went on to announce that Azerbaijan was considering restoring its Soviet-era rail link to the Armenian border in response to Georgia’s “tariff demarche.” 

The Minval article also suggested that Georgia’s deepening ties to Russia may be playing a role in Tbilisi’s stance, a theme first raised by Caliber. Russia is particularly interested in maintaining its dominant trade position over Armenia, which in 2025 has taken significant steps to strengthen its connections to the European Union and the United States.

Earlier this year, Georgian customs officials were blamed for disrupting Armenian cargo traffic during a period of rising prices in Armenia. Some observers argued at that time that Tbilisi was cooperating with Moscow to exert pressure on Yerevan to moderate its westward geopolitical shift.

By Eurasianet

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