Russia's state-owned railway monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) runs the network under a 30-year management contract signed with Yerevan in 2008. Pashinian first called into question this arrangement in televised comments on February 10. 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 three days later. “The solution I envision is for a country that has friendly relations with both Russia and Armenia to simply purchase the concessionary management rights from Russia.”
“These are bizarre remarks,” countered Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. “I think they are hardly acceptable.”
Zakharova said that RZhD has consistently fulfilled its contractual obligations and made “significant” investments in the Armenian rail network.
“The Russian operator is a structure that does not deprive the republic of competitive advantages but actually creates them,” she told a news briefing in Moscow.
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. 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.
On February 12, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk expressed RZhD’s readiness to restore two short sections of Armenian railway leading to the Azerbaijani and Turkish borders. Pashinian has repeatedly urged the Russians to do that in recent months. Zakharova pointed to Overchuk’s statement, adding that Moscow “will adhere to this position.”