Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has asked Russia, which manages Armenia’s railways, to ‘urgently address’ the full restoration of railway sections adjacent to the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and the Turkish border.
‘I believe that in the near future, I will also raise the same issue regarding the Ijevan-Khazakh section, because I think there is also an urgent need to restore that section as quickly as possible’, Pashinyan said during a Thursday press briefing.
He also expressed hope that Russia would swiftly fulfill his request.
All the mentioned sections exclude the southern part of Armenia, where the Trump Route would pass. However, the reopening of these sections are part of Pashinyan’s government-tailored Crossroad of Peace project.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), more commonly referred to as the Trump Route, was declared during the Washington summit in August, and is meant to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan through Armenia.
Earlier this week, Russia, which was left out of agreements made during the Washington summit, expressed its readiness to discuss possible participation in the Trump Route with Armenia.
Mikhail Kalugin, director of the 4th Department at the Russian Foreign Ministry for countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), argued that ‘there are ample grounds for this’.
Kalugin, among other things, pointed to South Caucasus Railway, a subsidiary of the Russian state-owned Russian Railways, which ‘holds a concession to manage Armenia’s railway network’.
In 2008, a 30-year concession agreement was signed, stipulating the transfer of the Armenian railway system to the ‘South-Caucasian Railway’ CJSC created by Russian Railways.
Kalugin also noted that the Trump Route would pass through southern Armenia, where Russian border guards are stationed along the Armenia–Iran border.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
On Thursday, addressing possible Russian involvement in the Trump Route, Pashinyan said the project is bilateral with the US, adding that ‘any third-party involvement can be discussed only bilaterally’.
Pashinyan also addressed the South Caucasus Railway’s expressed readiness to transfer only the Meghri railway section, where Trump Route is believed to pass, from its administration to Armenia, arguing that there was a ‘misunderstanding’.
‘The [Meghri railway] section is not under Russian management for it to be handed over to Armenia. It is Armenia’s sovereign territory, and we have not delegated the management of that sovereign territory to anyone. There is no railway there to be managed by anyone’, Pashinyan said.
Marut Vanyan
While there appears to be no indication as to when the Trump Route would begin operations, on Thursday, the inaugural meeting of Armenia–US Bilateral Working Group in Support of the Outcomes of the Washington summit was held, the Armenian Foreign Ministry reported.
In early December, Pashinyan said that the TRIPP Company, which will be registered in Armenia, will be ‘granted a right to develop the necessary infrastructure of railway, road, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optics’.
He also added that ‘intensive negotiations’ were underway on the general terms of implementation of TRIPP, and that the implementation and construction phase would start ‘as early as next year’.
