The “property for debt” deal helped bring tremendous investments to Armenia. This is what second President of Armenia, leader of the “Armenia” bloc Robert Kocharyan said during a campaign meeting in Kapan, responding to the question whether he considers the “property for debt” deal a success when it led to the transfer of Armenia’s major facilities to Russia.

“I have already talked about this and given my evaluation. All the belongings that were part of the deal still belong to Armenia. The institutions operate, taxes are paid, and several jobs are created. Large investments have been made, and new equipment has been installed. You can view this as a de facto $100 million-dollar investment made by the Russian Federation. Currently, there are no investments being made in Armenia. If the incumbent authorities remain in power, there won’t be investments since there has to be a government that is predictable or at least a government that knows what it’s talking about. After meeting with the incumbent authorities, most investors have asked me where the government is leading the country. Due to this, there won’t be new investments or new jobs in Armenia,” Kocharyan noted.