An Armenian Railways train run by Russian Railways

Armenia and Russia agreed on Wednesday to set up a working group to address underlying issues regarding the management and maintenance of the Armenian Railway Network, but not about a 30-year-agreement between the two countries signed in 2008 on the management of Armenia’s railway network.

The director of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, visited Yerevan on Wednesday to discuss the future of the 30-year agreement.

The concession of the railways, as stipulated by an agreement with Russia’s railway monopoly, created an entity under Moscow’s control that manages Armenia’s railway system. This agreement became a focal point of growing discord between Yerevan and Moscow, when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the company managing the Armenian railway should be run by another company not affiliated with Russia. Moscow has rejected Pashinyan’s proposal.

In August, Pashinyan escalated tensions with Moscow when he threatened to take Russian Railways to international court or charge the Russian giant as much as $2 billion annually for its management rights. Belozerov responded by saying that Yerevan would have to compensate his company for about $400 million in investments it claims to have made in Armenia since 2009. Pashinyan softened his rhetoric on the issue in the following weeks.

“The issue of maintaining or not maintaining [the concession] was not on the agenda,” Belozerov told reporters after the talks with Pashinyan. “We discussed the implementation of the concession agreement — it is being implemented — and agreed to work together.”

A statement issued by Pashinyan’s press service said the two discussed “the efficiency of the [Armenian railway] management, existing problems and ways of resolving them” as well as the planned rehabilitation of disused sections of the railway leading to the Turkish and Azerbaijani borders.

“An agreement was reached to set up a joint working group with the aim of discussing the identified issues, finding possible solutions, and ascertaining next steps within a short timeframe,” added the statement.

Pashinyan’s office did not mention the prime minister’s repeated assertions to end Russian control over the railways.