Visiting Yerevan on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a strategic partnership with his Armenian counterpart. The visit carries important symbolic value ahead of crucial elections in the country. But this wasn’t just about photos and pleasantries.Rubio signed three agreements in Yerevan. These included a critical minerals cooperation deal and a framework advancing the TRIPP corridor, a Trump-branded road and rail route connecting Azerbaijan with its isolated Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory. The corridor, central to last August’s Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal, adds American weight to a region once locked in Russia’s orbit. Indeed, it revives the ancient Silk Road on American terms.This is a seismic change in regional politics. Moscow had long served as the primary security guarantor for Armenia, keeping the country’s trade and energy dependency tightly bound to Russian networks. That began shifting after Russia failed to defend Armenia following repeated Azerbaijani attacks. This prompted Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to halt participation in the Russia-dominated CSTO alliance, launch the European Union accession process, and remove Russian guards that had controlled its borders since Soviet times.