When [former Foreign Minister] Vartan Oskanian says, “Why don’t we get at least 50 percent in the TRIPP company,” what about them when they were handing over our strategic objects to another state in “property for debt,” why did they hand over 100 percent? Can he explain that? Ruben Rubinyan, deputy speaker of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and the country’s special representative for the normalization process with Turkey, told this to reporters Monday at the NA.

“But in reality, sovereignty and the percentage of state participation in a company do not intersect in any way. Theoretically 100 percent of [the] TRIPP [project] could have been American, [but] our sovereignty or jurisdiction would not suffer in any way from this. Armenia will have [a] 26 percent [share] in that company, the US—74, because the US will make investments. It’s not enough that we will receive taxes from that TRIPP company, but we will also receive a part of the business profits,” Rubinyan added.

When asked whether the Azerbaijanis will encounter any customs officers while traveling along the “Trump Route” to be built, the Armenian NA deputy speaker replied: “After the publication of the document, such a question should not exist. It is written in the document that the representatives of the relevant departments of Armenia will have a physical presence at passport and customs points. Period.”

Also, Rubinyan gave an example that when boarding a plane at Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport, it is not the Armenian border guards, but the airline representatives who checks the passport,

“Now the same thing will happen in this case. There will be some time when they will facilitate, but the representatives of that ‘front office’ will not decide, they will simply facilitate. But at the same time, it is written in black and white that the Armenian border guards will be physically present in all relevant places. Let me say more: it is also written that the border guards will maintain the function of security checks," added the Armenian NA vice-speaker.