Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has repeatedly urged the Russians to do that in recent months. He has said that the Armenian government is ready to repair those sections on its own if they are unwilling or unable to carry out the repairs. Russia's state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) runs the network under a 30-year management contract signed with Yerevan in 2008.
“In accordance with the appeal of the Armenian side and based on friendly and fraternal feelings towards the people of Armenia, the Russian Federation has decided to begin substantive negotiations on the restoration of two sections of the Armenian railways, which will ensure their connection with the railways of Azerbaijan near [the village of] Yeraskh as well as with the railways of Turkey near the town of Akhurian,” Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk told journalists.
“We highly appreciate the trust in Russian experience, expertise and technology which the Armenian side has once again demonstrated by turning to Russia,” he said, according to the TASS news agency.
In Overchuk’s words, the combined length of the two sections needing repairs is just 14 kilometers. His statement came two days after Pashinian questioned RZhD’s continued management of the Armenian railway, saying that it discourages Turkey and Azerbaijan from using a much larger section of Armenian territory for transit purposes in the near future.
“With all due respect for our Russian partners, because of the tense international context and the fact that our railway is under the control of the Russian Federation we are losing our competitive advantage here,” he told Armenian Public Television. “We need to think about what to do about this. This is not a matter of one or two years. We need to find a solution, and we need to find it in a friendly, fraternal logic.”
Pashinian did not clarify whether this means he could try to terminate the management contract with RZhD. He spoke the day after meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Yerevan. The talks focused on the planned opening of a U.S.-administered transit corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave as well as Turkey via Armenia’s Syunik region. Analysts see the controversial arrangement as another blow to Russian presence in Armenia.