Russia's state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) runs the network under a 30-year management contract signed with Yerevan in 2008. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called for its termination last Friday. He claimed that it discourages Turkey and Azerbaijan from using a much larger section of Armenian territory for transit purposes in the near future.
“Due to Russia's management of the railway, we are losing our strategic position and our competitive advantage,” Pashinian said, adding that the network should be run by another country that has “friendly relations with both Russia and Armenia.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed Pashinian’s calls as “bizarre” and “not acceptable.” Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council went farther in an interview with the official TASS news agency published the following day.
“I can say for certain that any other company would hardly be able to fully replace the Russian railway carrier, which has been operating effectively and for a long time in Armenia under not the easiest conditions,” said Shoigu.
“I recently commented on the situation surrounding Armenia's plans for nuclear cooperation with the United States,” he went on. “So, could such, to put it diplomatically, ill-conceived decisions lead to equally dangerous experiments for which ordinary Armenian citizens will have to pay? The system built over nearly two decades could simply collapse overnight. Naturally, no 'friendly countries' will bear responsibility for this.”
Shoigu defended RZhD’s track record in Armenia, saying that the Russian giant has invested about $400 million in the Armenian network that fell into disrepair following the Soviet collapse. The investments, he said, have been channeled, among other things, into repairs of over 500 kilometers of rail track and 38 rail bridges in the country.
Pashinian announced plans to try to end the Russian control of the Armenian railway four days after meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Yerevan for talks that focused on the planned opening of a U.S.-administered transit corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave via Armenia. Analysts see the transit arrangement as another blow to Russian presence in Armenia.
Vance and Pashinian also signed on February 9 a joint statement on the “completion of negotiations” on a U.S.-Armenian agreement on nuclear cooperation. It was the clearest indication yet that the Armenian government wants to rely on the United States in its declared plans to build a new nuclear plant equipped with a small modular reactor (SMR). Russian officials expressed concern at such a prospect in the following days.
Shoigu argued on February 13 that the U.S. itself does not yet have a functioning SMR plant. He claimed that the possible construction of such a facility in Armenia would therefore pose an environmental threat to not only the South Caucasus country but also Russia.
Tensions between Moscow and Yerevan have run high in recent years amid Pashinian’s efforts to reorient his country towards the West and make controversial peace deals with Baku and Ankara.