Armenia’s refusal to discuss the issue of unblocking the Meghri road will violate the prospect of regional logistics integration and will strengthen, on the one hand, the Russian presence in the region, and Iran’s influence on Nakhichevan, and accordingly on Azerbaijan, on the other hand. Samvel Babayan, former Secretary of the Security Council and former Minister of Defense of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), wrote this in his article.

Babayan added as follows: “At the same time, Armenia, faithful to the agreement on unblocking the regional infrastructure, is creating all the prerequisites for the safe restart and uninterrupted operation of the infrastructure passing through the territory of Armenia in the form which it functioned in Soviet times, excluding the construction of any new infrastructure. In this case, Georgia will continue to be the main regional transit country providing overland link connecting China, Russia, Central Asia and Azerbaijan with Turkey.

In this case, Russia, Georgia and Iran should reconsider their approaches to Armenia by making their economic environment accessible, as well as providing Armenia with preferential access to Iran and its border countries, as well as to new markets across the Persian Gulf.

As for relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation, while disagreements remain in collective bodies, it is necessary to urgently reconsider bilateral relations, sectoral “road maps” and subsequent  agreements. On the other hand, at this stage it is not advisable for the RA to join any collective organization. As a precedent, we can consider the exit of Great Britain and the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland from the EU and the development of bilateral relations with members of the same union.

Armenia should begin a negotiation process with Georgia in order to reduce fees for sea and land transit through Georgian territory in the face of economic pressure, since if the Meghri infrastructure is unblocked, Georgia will lose a significant part of the transit revenue.

On the other hand, Armenia is negotiating with Russia and Georgia to resume the work of the Abkhazian railway. Protection and defense of its own state borders Armenia carries out independently.”