Trucks Pile Up at Lars as Control Increases Following Crimean Bridge Explosion

Trucks belonging to the freight transport company 'Spinnaker Group' have been attempting to cross the Lars checkpoint into Russia for the past 12 days. Typically, when there are no issues, trucks reach Russia within five days; however, there have been significant backups at Lars for nearly three weeks.

“Every truck is being checked and scanned with an X-ray. After the explosion on the Crimean bridge, control over freight transport has intensified. Previously, only a portion of a company's vehicles were thoroughly inspected, but now all are being checked. This is where the queues have originated. According to our information, this is a requirement from the Russian side. There are also reports that some Armenian trucks have been found with serious violations, which has led to increased inspections of all vehicles,” stated Norair Gevorgyan, co-founder of the company, in an interview with 'Hetq'.

Currently, particularly those transporting agricultural products and fish are facing challenges. Some are returning their trucks to Armenia to prevent their cargo from spoiling. Fresh fish, for instance, is brought back and frozen. Others are unable to deliver goods on time, and trucks are returning to Armenia with spoiled products.

The Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures is aware of the traffic jams at Lars, but they believe there is nothing they can do at this moment. “The issue is related to the Russian side tightening control at checkpoints. This is why such large traffic jams are occurring. However, this problem is outside the jurisdiction of our ministry,” said Sona Harutyunyan, the press secretary of the minister, in an interview with the media. According to her, throughput has significantly decreased, and the flow of vehicles is moving very slowly. When asked what solutions or alternatives the ministry sees for resolving this issue, the spokesperson again replied that it is currently beyond their jurisdiction.