Overchuk says railway concession transfer not discussed (PAN.am)

Yerevan has not discussed with Moscow the transfer of the South Caucasus Railway concession, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said.

“The issue as such has not been discussed in depth. There has been no formal request,” he told reporters, Sputnik Armenia reports.

Overchuk added that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had said Russian Railways was “toxic” for Armenia, but that this had “nothing to do with reality.”

“Pashinyan tells us that Russian Railways is supposedly toxic for Armenia for certain sanctions-related reasons, but Russian Railways transports cargo through Russian territory, including transit cargo, say, to Europe, and no one except Pashinyan raises any questions about Russian Railways being toxic or subject to sanctions,” he told reporters.

Armenia’s railway was transferred to the concession management of South Caucasus Railway for 30 years in February 2008, with an option to extend the agreement for another 10 years.

On Feb. 13, Pashinyan proposed selling the concession management rights for Armenia’s railways to a country friendly to both Yerevan and Moscow. On Aug. 24, 2026, the prime minister told the National Assembly that Armenia risked losing a historic opportunity to integrate into the international railway network because its railway remained under Russian management. He said that if no other way was found to manage the Armenian railway, Armenia would resolve the issue through the government and National Assembly.