The chief executive of the Russian Railways (RZhD) monopoly indicated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian did not insist on ending its long-term management of Armenia’s railway network during their meeting in Yerevan held on Wednesday.
Oleg Belozerov visited the Armenian capital to discuss the future of RZhD’s 30-year concession over the network enshrined in a 2008 Russian-Armenian agreement. Pashinian said in February that the Armenian railway should be run by another, non-Russian company because its current status discourages Turkey and Azerbaijan from using a much larger section of Armenian territory for transit purposes. Moscow has repeatedly rejected Pashinian’s demands since then amid a further deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations.
“The issue of maintaining or not maintaining [the concession] was not on the agenda,” Belozerov told reporters after the talks with Pashinian. “We discussed the implementation of the concession agreement -- it is being implemented -- and agreed to work together.”
He did not give other details of the meeting described by him as “very good.”
In a statement, the Armenian government said Pashinian and Belozerov discussed “the efficiency of the [Armenian railway] management, existing problems and ways of resolving them” as well as the planned rehabilitation of disused sections of the railway leading to the Turkish and Azerbaijani borders.
“An agreement was reached to set up a joint working group with the aim of discussing the identified issues, finding possible solutions, and ascertaining next steps within a short timeframe,” added the statement.
It said nothing about Pashinian’s calls for an end to the Russian management of the Armenian railways which he publicly reiterated as recently as on September 19.
In August, Pashinian threatened to take RZhD to international court or charge the Russian giant as much as $2 billion annually for its management rights. Belozerov responded by saying that Yerevan would have to compensate his company for about $400 million in investments its claims to have made in Armenia since 2009. Pashinian softened his rhetoric on the issue in the following weeks.
Belozerov met with Pashinian ahead of the latter’s anticipated crunch talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders most recently met on September 1, with Putin again pressing Pashinian to quickly choose between seeking Armenia’s membership of the European Union and keeping the South Caucasus country part of a Russian-led economic bloc.
Last week, a senior Russian official repeated Moscow’s threats to sharply raise the price of Russian natural gas supplied to Armenia if Pashinian’s government continues to reorient the country towards the West. Russian authorities already banned imports of Armenian agricultural products earlier this year.