Russian Railway Chief Proposes Alternative Transportation Routes for Armenia
Chief of the state-run Russian Railway Company Gennady Fadeev said while visiting Armenia?s capital, Yerevan on October 3, that the railway route linking Russia with Armenia via Georgia can be put into operation within a year.
?In terms of financial and technical possibilities, the transport corridor Sochi-Sokhumi-Tbilisi-Yerevan may be resumed within a year,? RIA Novosti news agency quoted Fadeev as saying.
However, he added that ?questions prevail over answers in this regard.?
He stressed the prospect of increasing the volume of Armenian-Russian freight transportation through railway ferries.
?The fact that Russian freights are moving to Armenia through the Ukrainian and Georgian ports of Ilichevsk and Poti, respectively, is nonsense,? Fadeev said.
He said it is quite possible to open a ferry route between the Russian port of Kavkaz and the Georgian port of Poti, which will be three times cheaper than the current route via the Ukrainian port. Fadeev also added that ?the opinion of the Georgian side is very important in this regard.?
