We are pleased to record that our long-term conversation with our colleagues in the Russian Federation has brought a concrete result. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting of the Armenian government, referring to the fact that the capacity of the Upper Lars checkpoint—on the Russian-Georgian border—has increased.
He asked Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan whether we can say that the issue of vehicle queues is solved by this, to which the deputy PM replied as follows, in particular: “On the Russian side, there is one passage for oversized vehicles, which is also important, and there are two more passages for buses. This is a solution that should not create an obstacle for Armenian goods. Going from 11 to 39 passages is likely to produce positive effects. Moreover, it is important that on the Georgian side, too, by the end of 2024, 9 will become 15 crossings. The Russian side has done a great job.”
For his part, Pashinyan noted that this matter was always on his agenda for discussions with the Russian President and the Russian Prime Minister.
“I want to thank [Russian] President Putin and Prime Minister Mishustin for their consistent work in this matter. It was also on our working agenda with the prime minister of Georgia, and I want to thank Prime Minister Garibashvili. I know that work is going on at a very high pace. A tunnel is also under construction there. Of course, this is related also to global logistics rearrangements,” said the Armenian premier.