Opinion: Armenia should agree with Georgia on the opening of the  Abkhazian section of the railway

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.