Russia has received no official Armenian request to terminate the South Caucasus Railway concession agreement, Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said.
“No, we have not received any official request regarding termination of the concession, although we constantly hear statements about it being made publicly,” Overchuk told reporters on the sidelines of a Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting, Interfax reports.
He stressed that Russia favors calmly resolving all issues through consultations and dialogue.
“We are ready to continue our work, to continue the concession in Armenia,” Overchuk said.
In particular, he said proposals had been made concerning individual sections that are an integral part of Armenia’s railway system.
“We do not understand how one sleeper can be separated from another, but such ideas are circulating there,” the deputy prime minister added.
He recalled that in January this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin made decisions to support the restoration of two small sections of Armenia’s railway near the border with Nakhichevan and in Gyumri.
“We are also ready to restore them. In fact, we held negotiations with the Armenians on this issue, but it is interesting that literally the day after the Russian Federation announced its readiness to participate in restoring these two very important railway sections, which would indeed provide Armenia’s railways with connections to both Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Russia’s participation in the concession allegedly deprives Armenia of certain competitive advantages in developing its railways,” Overchuk said.
According to him, it is currently difficult to assess how Armenia’s railways could maintain connections with the rest of the outside world without a link to Russian railways.
“But this is a discussion of a highly professional and expert nature,” the deputy prime minister said.
