YEREVAN, July 2. /TASS/. Armenia has launched independent operations to restore railway sections leading to its borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and is currently holding legal consultations with the South Caucasus Railway (SCR), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced at a briefing following a government meeting.

"We have already initiated processes aimed at restoring the Gyumri-Akhurik railway section (to the Turkish border) and the section near Yeraskh (on the border with Azerbaijan), and we are carrying out this work. Regarding the remaining sections, we will continue working discussions, including with our Russian colleagues, and our positions have not changed and will not change," he said.

However, the prime minister stopped short of directly answering whether these railway lines would be withdrawn from the SCR concession.

"These are our railways, our property, and we must manage our property. I cannot provide specific details because these issues must be resolved through legal consultations and working discussions. I can say that the South Caucasus Railway is involved in all these processes; they are aware of what is happening," Pashinyan noted.

On February 13, Pashinyan told reporters that Yerevan had proposed that the Russian side sell its railway concession to a state friendly to both Moscow and Yerevan. Among the options, he listed Kazakhstan, the UAE, and Qatar. Pashinyan asserted that Armenia had nothing against the Russian Federation, but argued that the Russian concession created "certain competitive losses" for the republic.

On April 2, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk stated in an interview with TASS that there were no objective reasons to sell the concession of the South Caucasus Railway (a subsidiary of Russian Railways) to a third party.

On February 13, 2008, a concession agreement was signed in Yerevan between Russian Railways and the Republic of Armenia, transferring the country's rail transport system to the management of the SCR. According to the document, the concession term is 30 years, with the right to extend it for an additional 10 years after the first 20 years of operation by mutual consent of the parties.