Linking Armenia's economic development to the transit factor is complete stupidity. The second president of Armenia, leader of the opposition "Armenia" Bloc Robert Kocharyan stated this during his year-end press conference Monday, and referring to the announcement—after the Brussels meeting—on the reopening of the railway link whereby Armenia will get access to Russia and Iran.

"Look at the map. Armenia is so small. There is no need to pin hope that Armenia has a great transit potential. And it is not necessary to connect the economic development of Armenia with the factor of transit; that will be complete stupidity. Our country is very small, it is easy to bypass, it is a mountainous country, and there is always the opportunity to build more plain roads. It is 84 km from [Azerbaijan’s] Nakhichevan to [Turkey’s] Igdir. They have already announced that they will build that railway, it will take about two years to build. This means that we will have only 45 km through [Armenia’s] Meghri for transit, and that's it! What money will you get for that? They will not get anything. It is a simple thing; look at the map and come to a conclusion. That road may be interesting for the Turkey-Russia railway connection, but they have that connection. That railway was put into operation in 2017. In your opinion, what percentage of its capacity is operated? About 10 percent! This means that the structure of trade is not that much that yet. The bypass road has already been built," Kocharyan said.

He clarified another matter: Can connecting Iran with Russia enable large-scale cargo transportation?

"The Azerbaijani railway network is connected to the Iranian railway network within the framework of a large project and is connected through Astara. People do not follow this in our country. They were joined in 2018, [Azerbaijani president] Aliyev participated in the opening. On the Iranian side, the whole side of that railway has been leased to the Azerbaijanis for 25 years, with all its infrastructure. (…). The completed road will join the Black Sea, for which Turkey also has the opportunity. And it is part of a program—the big India-Iran-Azerbaijan-Russia transport corridor. Imagine how much money was spent. (…). They have already bypassed us; that is a fact. We will receive a maximum of about 40 km of transit money," Kocharyan said.

According to him, in this case it is necessary to understand what you gain and what you lose.

"Balance if this is the only thing you have gained. Why are you going? All this is something that can be calculated. This does not lead to a good place. Every negotiation assumes that you take your computer and print: Step 1. This is what we do. What do we gain? What do you lose? Then you start to balance what you gain, what you gain within the framework of those steps. You discuss in a broader circle if it is very profitable. Also, you make it accessible to the people—not open, empty, meaningless conversations. These people do not know how to count. Professionalism is the number one enemy for these people. Patriotic and professional people are the enemy of these authorities. They are looking for such people, to put pressure on them, to dismiss them from work, to arrest them," Robert Kocharyan emphasized.