“We will hold a working discussion and also draw certain conclusions based on the results of that discussion,” Pashinian told reporters.
RZhD controls the network in accordance with a 30-year management contract signed in 2008. Pashinian said in February that the Armenian railway should be run by another, non-Russian company because its current status discourages Turkey and Azerbaijan from using a much larger section of Armenian territory for transit purposes. Moscow has repeatedly rejected Pashinian’s demands since then amid a further deterioration of Russian-Armenian relations.
In August, Pashinian threatened to take RZhD to international court or charge the Russian giant as much as $2 billion annually for its management rights. The RZhD chairman, Oleg Belozerov, responded by saying that Yerevan would have to compensate his company for about $400 million in investments its claims to have made in the country since 2009. Russian Minister for Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov echoed the warning.
Pashinian softened his rhetoric on the issue in the following weeks. But he insisted on September 19 that RZhD cede its concession over the Armenian network to “a third party.”
Belozerov will arrive in Yerevan ahead of Pashinian’s anticipated crunch talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two leaders most recently met on September 1, with Putin again pressing Pashinian to quickly choose between seeking Armenia’s membership of the European Union and keeping the South Caucasus country part of a Russian-led economic bloc. According to Pashinian, the railway issue will also be high on the agenda of their next meeting.