“Friendly solution” means Russia should hand over its property free of charge: Bogdan Bezpalko

Political scientist Bogdan Bezpalko commented to Alpha News on the statement by Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, regarding Russia’s possible sale of part of its railway concession in Armenia.

The political scientist believes that behind Pashinyan’s words lies a desire to obtain Russia’s property free of charge.

“Pashinyan’s statement regarding the concession suggests that he is asking for it to be given to Armenia, and to him personally, as a gift. In this kind of situation, states economically tied to Russia, including through joint projects, typically don’t want to buy back, on market terms, the projects that the Russian Federation invested in, and instead count on Russia simply giving them these projects as a gift. This was the case, for example, with Serbia’s oil industry, and it’s clear that Pashinyan is counting on some very favorable arrangement toward himself and toward present-day Armenia in the case of the Armenian railway,” the expert believes.

“A ‘friendly solution’ means that Russia must renounce any claims for compensation for losses or for its investments, and must hand over all this property free of charge to the state of Armenia, which will then sell this same railway as a concession to another state or some other large corporation. That is, Russia must simply hand all of this over, give it away completely for free. That’s what Pashinyan means by ‘friendly’ solutions, ‘friendly’ in quotation marks, of course,” Bezpalko continued.

According to the speaker, Armenia will ultimately have to make a final decision on its geopolitical direction, and if its choice is in favor of Europe, the country’s economy faces serious trials ahead.

“I think Russian politicians are far from naive, and in this situation they are acting quite correctly toward Pashinyan, but still quite firmly. I think that after some time, the choice Pashinyan is trying to postpone, the choice between the West and the East, between Russia and the West, he will have to make in some way, but at the same time he will have to fully accept all the economic, political and geopolitical consequences that will accompany that choice. I have no doubt that Pashinyan will choose the West, and I have no doubt that the consequences for Armenia will then also be severe. The economic consequences for Armenia will most likely mean a loss of GDP at a level of around 16, 18, maybe even 20%,” the Alpha News source concluded.