Russia will participate in restoring railway sections from Armenia toward Turkey and Azerbaijan, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk has said.
The project concerns rail lines near the town of Yerask, close to the border with Azerbaijan, and near the village of Akhuryan, close to the border with Turkey, Vedomosti reported.
Overchuk noted that the relevant decision was adopted on the basis of trilateral statements by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, which предусматривают the unblocking of economic and transport links in the South Caucasus.
The Russian side is ready to move to substantive negotiations, during which the technical, financial and other parameters for implementing the project will be defined for the restoration of sections measuring about 1.6 kilometers and 12.4 kilometers.
According to the deputy prime minister, the launch of these lines will provide Russia with a direct railway connection to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, onward access to Turkey’s Mediterranean Sea ports, as well as access via Iran to ports on the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
A day earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin had stated that Russia should participate in the implementation of the TRIPP project. He recalled Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union and the fact that until 2038 the country’s railway network is managed by South Caucasus Railway, a subsidiary of Russian Railways.
“In these conditions, it is obvious that our partners cannot do without Russia,” Galuzin said.
In December, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: “I asked our Russian partners to urgently engage, in particular, in the full reconstruction of the railway line from Yerask to the Azerbaijani border toward Nakhichevan, as well as from Akhurik to the Turkish border. I believe that in the near future I will raise the same issue regarding the Ijevan–Gazakh section, since I think that this section also needs to be restored as quickly as possible. I hope that our Russian partners will carry out this request with maximum efficiency.”
At the same time, commenting on reports about Russia’s participation in TRIPP, he stressed that this concerns a bilateral agreement. “The declaration related to TRIPP states that it is an Armenia–U.S. bilateral project, and the participation of third countries can be discussed exclusively in a bilateral format. This is clearly stipulated, and I do not consider it appropriate to comment beyond that framework.”
