Armenia may impose sanctions against Russia and a visa regime for its citizens. Brussels has put forward such demands to Yerevan, Izvestia reports.
MEP Fernand Kartheiser told the newspaper in an interview that strong pressure will be exerted on Armenia to force it to introduce a visa regime with Russia and join anti-Russian sanctions.
He also expressed hope that Armenia will withstand this pressure and act in its own interests, noting that the EU will not be able to protect the republic from the consequences of severing ties with Russia.
In turn, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that he could demand from Russia an annual fee of $ 2 billion for the use of railway infrastructure, which Yerevan considers its property.
He stressed that he intends to resolve the issue peacefully, but did not rule out recourse to international arbitration if an agreement fails.
The Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Sergei Shoigu, in an interview with TASS, said that during the period of the concession agreement (since 2008), Russian investments in Armenian railways have exceeded 30 billion rubles.
During the operation of the South Caucasus Railway company (a subsidiary of Russian Railways), more than 520 km of tracks out of about 782 km of the total length of the existing network were repaired. Bridges and other equipment were also reconstructed and replaced. The entire railway network is electrified.
In addition to investments, more than 15 billion rubles in taxes were paid to the Armenian budget.