In our contacts with the Armenian side, we regularly raise the topic of the conditions for the activity of Russian business in Armenia. <\/p>\n
At various levels, we were assured that nothing threatens domestic investments. However, as we see, these statements do not coincide with reality in everything. <\/p>\n
More and more experts agree that signs of \u201credistribution of property\u201d for political reasons are observed in the republic, stated Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin. \u201cA vivid example is the ongoing nationalization of the Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC, owned by Russian Armenian businessman S.S. Karapetyan. The [Armenian] authorities\u2019 team is trying to justify its actions [in this regard] with the slogans of seeking to \u2018fight corruption,\u2019 return the illegally obtained funds to the treasury, increase the efficiency of the company. <\/p>\n
However, their veracity is highly questionable. In reality, this is more like a politically motivated revenge against one of the competitors in the domestic political arena. It is noteworthy that before the [aforesaid] businessman appeared in the political life of the [Armenian] republic, there were no complaints about the company’s work. Moreover, the new leaders, as far as one can judge, did not achieve much success at the helm of the enterprise, in which hundreds of millions of dollars were invested. <\/p>\n
We [i.e. Russia] take with all seriousness the statements of Armenia\u2019s leadership about the need to sell the concession for the management of the Armenian railway network of SCR [i.e. South Caucasus Railway] CJSC, a subsidiary of RZhD [i.e. Russian Railways] OJSC, to a third country. It is argued that the Russian presence allegedly deprives Armenia of competitive advantages due to the threat of Western sanctions. However, in reality, everything is exactly the opposite: the Russian company has been investing all its revenue in the maintenance, modernization, and development of the Armenian railway infrastructure for many years. (…). <\/p>\n
The company, as an employer, provides employment for more than 2,500 people [in Armenia]. All this has made it possible to preserve Armenia’s strategic asset and, as a result, create prerequisites for the effective integration of the republic into the international transport network in the event of a complete unblocking of regional communications, which is especially important for a landlocked country. <\/p>\n
The persistent talk about the sale of the concession [management of the Armenian railways], without a convincing explanation of why this may be necessary for the Russian side, may indicate that behind them lies an intention to alienate and transfer the railways in the interests of geopolitical projects of other states. <\/p>\n
We are closely monitoring the protection of the legitimate interests of Russian economic operators in Armenia. Their violation will not only harm the investment climate of the republic, but will also not go without an appropriate response from the Russian side,” the Russian deputy foreign minister noted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In our contacts with the Armenian side, we regularly raise the topic of the conditions for the activity of Russian business in Armenia. At various levels, we were assured that nothing threatens domestic investments. However, as we see, these statements do not coincide with reality in everything. More and more experts agree that signs of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n