Russian minister says border checkpoint to remain closed for 30 days

Russian minister says border checkpoint to remain closed for 30 days

Mediamax news agency
14 Oct 04

Yerevan, 14 October: “About 30-40 days will be required for
completing the special measures at the Verkhniy Lars checkpoint on
the Georgian-Russian border,” the Russian minister of transport
and communications and the co-chairman of the Armenian-Russian
intergovernment commission for economic cooperation, Igor Levitin,
said in Yerevan today.

Asked by our Mediamax correspondent, Igor Levitin said that “the
purpose of these measures is to create conditions that will make it
impossible for terrorism-related people and vehicles to infiltrate
the territory of the Russian Federation”.

Levitin named the Astrakhan-Anzali sea route (Russia-Iran) as an
alternative route for transporting cargo between Russia and Armenia,
“This will be cheaper and even faster than transporting cargo through
Verkhniy Lars,” the Russian minister said.

Levitin also recommended that issues of restoring the rail service
between Russia and Armenia through Georgia should not be politicized.

He said that following his negotiations with Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan, he was convinced that Yerevan is ready to restore
the rail service.

“If the Georgian president also demonstrates such readiness, the
issue will be close to its solution,” Levitin said.