The Armenian government reported no other details of the talks between Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Armen Simonian and Russia’s Deputy Transport Minister Dmitry Zverev. Nor did it announce concrete agreements reached by them.
Russia's state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) runs the network under a 30-year management contract signed with Yerevan in 2008. Citing progress made towards the restoration of Armenia’s transport links with Turkey and Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian repeatedly urged RZhD late last year to repair the two railway sections that are just 14 kilometers long. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk indicated its readiness to do that on February 12.
Pashinian declared the next day that he wants to end the Russian management of the Armenian railways. He claimed that it discourages Turkey and Azerbaijan from using a much larger section of Armenian territory for transit purposes in the near future.
The Russian Foreign Ministry dismissed Pashinian’s statement as “bizarre” and “not acceptable.” Sergei Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council went farther, saying that the network could “collapse overnight” if the Armenian government tries to take it away from the Russians.
“I can say for certain that any other company would hardly be able to fully replace the Russian railway carrier,” Shoigu told the official TASS news agency.
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.