Russians Want to Withdraw from the Railway: Publication

According to the newspaper "Hraparak," the Russian side is discussing the issue of withdrawing from the concession agreement for the South Caucasus Railways.

Our source from "Russian Railways" stated this. It is known that the investigative bodies of the Republic of Armenia are examining cases against the South Caucasus Railway, reviewing the volume of investments made by the company, and interrogating employees. In particular, the RA State Revenue Committee investigation discovered a fact concerning the failure to pay 9.7 million AMD in VAT and forwarded the materials to the Investigative Committee. This has angered the Russian side.

The crux of the matter is that in the contract concerning the transfer of the Armenian railway to the company "South Caucasus Railways," created by "Russian Railways," it is emphasized that if the South Caucasus Railway fails to fulfill its obligations properly, the Russian side is obliged to pay the Armenian government a "total amount not exceeding 57,000,000 (fifty-seven million) US dollars."

In other words, if violations are proven, we could receive 57 million dollars from "Russian Railways." Therefore, it is not excluded that Russia could politically decide to withdraw from our railway.

In such a case, the Armenian side would find itself in a difficult situation, as according to the same contract, "South Caucasus Railways" owns all the rolling stock of our railway, meaning that after terminating the contract with the Russians, we would be left without wagons, just empty rails. "We must appeal to 'Russian Railways.' We are not abandoning it," said Ruben Grdzelian, spokesperson for the South Caucasus Railway.

For more information, see today’s issue of the newspaper.