ArmInfo. Russia is awaiting Yerevan's reaction to the proposal to restore two sections of Armenian railways connected to Azerbaijan and Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told reporters.
"Today, among other things, the issue of restoring two small sections of Armenian railways, which are under concession by Russian Railways, was discussed. We emphasized that we support the restoration of these two sections and are ready to participate and assist Armenia in this regard, specifically in terms of ensuring transport connectivity from Yeraskh to Nakhichevan and from Gyumri to the Turkish border," he said, according to TASS.
Overchuk recalled that these decisions were made at the presidential level back in January. "And we are waiting here to see how the Armenian side responds to this." "I think that very important meetings will take place in the near future to advance this issue further," he said, adding that "the ball is in their court."
The Deputy Prime Minister also emphasized that Russia has always supported projects to strengthen transport connectivity and unblock transport communications in the South Caucasus.
On August 24, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, speaking from the parliamentary rostrum, called on Russia to show flexibility and sell the concession for Armenian railways to a friendly third party. He also announced a proposal to purchase the concession for $400 million. Pashinyan emphasized that if Russia were to manage the Armenian railway network under a concession, Armenia could lose its historic opportunity to integrate into the international railway network.
As a reminder, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan first voiced the proposal to sell the railway concession to Russia on February 13.
At that time, in a conversation with journalists, he stated that Russia's concessionary management of Armenia's railways created competitive problems for Armenia, and many international partners wanted to bypass Armenian territory when implementing infrastructure projects. In this vein, he suggested that Russia consider selling the concession to a third, friendly country. He suggested Kazakhstan, the UAE, or Qatar as examples.
Russia called Pashinyan's claims groundless and stated that it does not intend to sell the concession for Armenian railways.
As a reminder, SCR CJSC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Russian Railways OJSC. On February 13, 2008, a concession agreement was signed in Yerevan between Russian Railways OJSC and the Republic of Armenia transferring the republic's rail transport system to the management of SCR CJSC. According to the agreement, the concession management term is 30 years, with the right to extend it for another 10 years after the first twenty years of operation by mutual agreement of the parties. SCR CJSC's responsibilities include include the modernization of the RA railway infrastructure, the development of cooperation with states neighboring Armenia, and the development of domestic and international passenger and freight traffic. The amount of investments made by the Company is $572 million. CJSC "SCR" began its activities on June 1, 2008.
