make preferableRussian Transport Minister Andrey Nikitin on Monday informed that Moscow is not negotiating with either Astana or Yerevan on transferring the concession management of Armenia’s railways to Kazakhstan. Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated this at a press briefing Wednesday, in response to a question about Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s recent statement that one of the options is to transfer the concession management of the South Caucasus Railway company to Kazakhstan.
“It is extremely important to consider this statement at an expert level; I mean this statement made by the sectoral department and its leadership.
I would also like to remind that the term of the concession agreement signed in 2008 is 30 years, which can be extended for another 10 years. For many years now, the South Caucasus Railway CJSC has been responsibly fulfilling the provisions of this agreement, and the amount of Russian investments in the [Armenian] republic's road infrastructure has exceeded 30 billion rubles.
As for high-level negotiations, they are traditionally commented on by the presidential staff," added the Russian MFA spokesperson.
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