Railway issue with Russia needs settlement following `friendly and  fraternal logic` - Nikol Pashinyan

ArmInfo.  Armenia has reached out to its partners in Russia, and politically, it appears to have received a positive response, but there is a very important practical issue.  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this in an  interview with Public Television, responding to a question about  whether Yerevan has an alternative solution if, for example, Russia  refuses to repair the railway sections related to TRIPP, or, "worse  yet, doesn't refuse but simply continues to drag its feet."

"Look at the problem we have in the same regional communications. It  is obvious that the railway will enter Meghri from Zangilan, from  Meghri to Nakhichevan, that is, Ordubad, and so on. In the  international context, it is very important how this railway will  continue. Now there are two competing options: Turkey and Azerbaijan  have announced a project to build a new railway from Kars to Diliju,  that is, from Kars to Nakhichevan. And, naturally, we expect that the  international route will run along the Yeraskh-Akhurik road, where  there is already an operating railway, since the section in Yeraskh  is missing only a few kilometers of railway tracks, and in Akhurik -  in short, this is already the Turkish border. And now we need to  focus on our competitive advantages. Here we see that in the  international context, the fact that this section of the railway is  under Russian control is used to present the Kars-Diliju route more  favorably, and this is a problem for us, because it turns out that we  are losing our competitive advantages "The advantages will be if we  have a completed railway... Of course, bringing this railway up to  modern standards will require additional investments of several  hundred million dollars. I want to emphasize that restoring only  small, missing sections is not a particularly significant challenge,  either financially or technically, but we must ensure the speed of  this railway," Pashinyan emphasized.

The Prime Minister emphasized that Yerevan "has enormous respect and  love for its Russian partners." "But the fact is that due to the  tense international situation, and because our railway, which is our  property-and this is very important-is managed by Russian Railways,  we feel we are losing our competitive advantage here. And here we  need to think about what to do, because this isn't a matter of one,  two, three, or four years," he said.

In this regard, Pashinyan believes a solution must be found, and this  solution must be "based on friendly, fraternal logic." He noted that  several billion dollars are being invested in the construction of the  Kars-Diliji railway. "I asked this question directly to our partners,  both the President of Turkey and the President of Azerbaijan, but not  in such detail. I said that we are moving towards a settlement, we  are moving towards peace, that is, we are already at peace, and this  railway passes through Armenia. Why are you spending several billion  dollars to build something that already exists? Of course, they  responded to this question with diplomatic silence, but now, seeing  numerous discussions, the international press, and the analysis of  the international expert community, we understand that this is the  main problem, and we need to understand what solutions we have,  because, I repeat, we are talking about Armenia's long-term strategic  interests, and all our friendly countries should be interested in our  interests being respected, and not the other way around, in our  interests being stymied," the Armenian Prime Minister stated.