Russia has explained to Armenia all the issues of concern regarding the concession management of South Caucasus Railway (SCR) company. Mikhail Kalugin, Director of the Fourth CIS Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia, stated this in an interview with TASS.

“This topic [the concession management of SCR] was discussed in detail during the talks between the leaders of Russia and Armenia on April 1. Explanations were given on all the issues of concern to the Armenian side, an understanding was reached on the formats of further work, including in the context of the participation of the Russian side in the unblocking of regional communications,” the Russian diplomat noted.

He emphasized that Moscow “recorded” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s statement that Armenia was not going to discuss “behind Russia’s back” matters related to the concession management of SCR.

“We cannot agree with the assertion that the [concession] management of Armenian railways by a Russian company in any way limits Armenia’s competitive advantages; on the contrary, we are convinced that it creates them,” Kalugin noted.

In his opinion, “if it were not for the hard work of the Russian side to restore and maintain the operability of the railway network [of Armenia] within the framework of the concession [management], it would have been more difficult today to talk about the prospects for Armenia’s participation in the ‘reactivation’ of transport arteries in the South Caucasus.”

The Russian MFA official recalled that “since 2008, investments in Armenian railways have amounted to about 30 billion rubles; in addition, about 15 billion rubles have been paid to Armenia’s budget, and part of the invested funds was directed to the modernization of rolling stock.”

“By the way, one of the new trains, for the Yerevan-Gyumri route, was tested by the [Armenian] prime minister himself, together with [some] other representatives of the Armenian leadership,” Kalugin noted.

Also, he expressed confidence that SCR remains one of the largest employers in Armenia, providing “about 2,500 jobs.”

“We [i.e. Russia] see great potential for joint, mutually beneficial work, one of the guarantees of which is the effective management of the Armenian railway network by Russian specialists,” the Russian diplomat noted.