The West, seeking to push Russia out of the South Caucasus, is ready to promise Armenia large cargo flows and investments in its railway infrastructure. Mikhail Kalugin, Director of the Fourth CIS Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Russia, stated this in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“Pursuing geopolitical goals of pushing our country out of the region, they [i.e. the West] are ready to promise [to Armenia] ‘golden mountains’—large-scale cargo flows, investments in the construction and restoration of railway lines,” the Russian diplomat said.

According to Kalugin, it is the Western interlocutors who can prompt the Armenian leadership with arguments about the “toxicity” of cooperation with Russia. He added that Armenia is actually being pushed to join anti-Russian sanctions in exchange for promises of economic support.

Kalugin claims that the sanctions policy has already caused significant damage to the countries that have implemented it, primarily to the EU countries. The Russian diplomat noted that when assessing the prospects of transport corridors in the South Caucasus, it is necessary to take into account geography and economy, first of all.

In his opinion, it is these factors that will determine the development of regional routes in the long term, and not political decisions. "For shippers, parameters such as cost, timeframes, throughput, the presence of additional customs procedures are of crucial importance, which affect the predictability of the schedule," Kalugin said.

He added that economic expediency will be decisive for the choice of transport routes, regardless of the political situation.