ArmInfo.Armenia must find a way to come to an agreement with Georgia on the issue of opening the Abkhazian section of the railway. This is the opinion of Vardan Voskanyan, head of the Iranian Studies Department of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Yerevan State University.
According to the expert, two important and interrelated events have been taking place in recent days. Voskanyan stated that the first freight train from Turkey arrived in Russia via the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway, which was immediately followed by an appeal from Sukhumi to Moscow, in which it expressed its readiness to open a Russia-Armenia railway communication through Abkhazia.
"It is obvious that in the context of the program of" unblocking communication routes ", very remarkable geopolitical events are now taking place around Georgia, and issues concern not only the economic sphere. By launching the first train to Russia, Ankara and Baku want to assure Tbilisi that Georgia will under no circumstances lose its transit importance, but will even increase it.
Meanwhile, Moscow, which, by the way, before the Abkhaz side's appeal, had already exerted some propaganda influence on Georgia through the media regarding the launch of the Sukhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan railway, seeks to nullify the significance of the railway program aimed at connecting Armenia with Russia through Azerbaijan. thereby weakening the Turkish-Azerbaijani influence, "Voskanyan wrote on his Facebook page.
If we take into account that from a purely technical point of view, as a result of unblocking the launch of the Julfa (Iran) -Nakhidjevan-Yerevan railway can be carried out as quickly as possible, the Iranist continued, then the opening of the Abkhaz railway will significantly reduce the importance of the Iran- Russia railway project through "continental" Azerbaijan , especially considering that there is still no railway from Iranian Astara to Rasht.
"What should Armenia do in the current situation? At all costs, try to agree with Georgia on the opening of the Abkhaz route, which will allow it to take a much tougher position on the so-called "Turanian corridor", opening the prospect of its complete neutralization due to the Armenian-Georgian- Russian-Iranian joint efforts, "the Iranian scholar summed up.
Earlier it became known that the parliament of Abkhazia appealed to the State Duma of Russia with a statement that the republic is ready, on equal terms, to participate in the project to open a railway communication between Russia and Armenia through Abkhazia.
Meanwhile, on January 11, 2021, Vladimir Putin met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Following the meeting, the parties decided to resume railway communication between the countries. It is assumed that the railway will pass through eastern Azerbaijan and will allow Armenia for the first time since 1992 to launch direct trains to Russia, as well as to get access to Iran. Baku, in turn, after more than 30 years of blocking will be able to establish communication with the exclave separated by Armenia - Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic - and get access to Turkey. According to research by the British non-governmental organization International Alert, the reconstruction of the Abkhazian railway on the route Sochi-Sukhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan, which has been inactive since 1991, will cost $ 277.5 million, which will be recouped no earlier than 100 years later. $ 251 million is required to restore the 190-kilometer Abkhazian section of Psou-Inguri, while from Inguri to Zugdidi, the cost will be only $ 26.5. From Zugdidi to Tbilisi and further to Yerevan, the road works and does not need repairs. It is noteworthy that according to the official conclusions of Abkhaz experts, this amount is $ 350-400 million, while their Georgian colleagues believe that this will require no more than $ 73 million.