ArmInfo. Deputy Director of the Institute of CIS Countries Vladimir Zharikhin does not exclude the possibility of opening freight traffic through the Abkhaz railway.
At a press conference in Yerevan on October 11, he noted that, in principle, nothing is impossible, and such a prospect is brewing. Meanwhile, the expert admitted that it is difficult to imagine passenger traffic through the Abkhaz railway.
To recall, the railway connection between Georgia and Russia via the Abkhaz railway was interrupted during the war in Abkhazia - after the demolition of the railway bridge over the Inguri River in 1992. The restoration of traffic on the site would lead to a partial exit of Armenia from the transport blockade and easier communication of Armenia with the outside world. At the moment, communication with Russia is carried out thanks to the ferry service and through the Upper Lars checkpoint, which often closes for a long period due to weather conditions or, as happened before, complications in Russian-Georgian relations. In the summer of 2017, Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Grigory Karasin and Special Representative of the Prime Minister of Georgia, Ambassador Zurab Abashidze agreed to proceed with the implementation of the agreement on trade corridors between Russia and Georgia signed in 2011 through Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The parties agreed to complete consultations on the implementation of the 2011 agreement and proceed to the execution of contracts with the Swiss company SGS, which will control the movement of goods and goods from Russia to Georgia and back through the "trade corridors" through the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
