Hraparak daily of Armenia writes as follows, in particular: In a number of settlements of Armenia, especially in Ararat and Armavir Provinces, the asphalt paving work that began in the summer has remained unfinished; the preparatory work has been carried out and stopped.

The person engaged in the asphalt paving work told us that the problem is the deficit of bitumen, or tar in the vernacular. It used to be imported from Russia, but now, amid tense Armenian-Russian relations, Russian bitumen is practically not imported to Armenia, which has caused problems in the [Armenian] authorities' favorite business of asphalt paving.

We were told that, of course, there is an alternative—bitumen comes from Iran also, but experts say that it is inferior in quality to the Russian one. And that's why the asphalt laid [in Armenia] in recent years is failing in just a few months.