In mid-September, Belarus released 25 prisoners held in politically linked cases after the United States agreed to ease sanctions. Now three US senators are calling on President Donald Trump's administration to pursue a similar approach to free political detainees in Azerbaijan.

The Trump administration is trying to turn a US-brokered opening between Armenia and Azerbaijan into something more tangible: a transport corridor linking Central Asia and the South Caucasus with Western markets -- and an investment opportunity for American companies.

The United States is set to unveil the next stage of TRIPP, a planned transport corridor through southern Armenia that Washington says could open new trade routes linking the South Caucasus and Central Asia with Western markets.