About 1,600 Armenian trucks are currently waiting on the Georgian side of the border to cross into Russia, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said today at a pres briefing.
Kerobyan stressed that the current capacity of the Upper Lars border checkpoint remains the same "as it was before the recent events."
By ‘recent recent events’ the minister meant the explosion of the Crimean Bridge. According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the explosive device used to blow up the bridge was hidden in plastic film rolls that left the Ukrainian port of Odessa in August and transited through Bulgaria, Georgia and Armenia before entering Russia. Since Armenia is a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, Armenian cargo shipments to Russia, mainly carried out via Georgia, are exempt from Russian customs duties.
According to Kerobyan, the trucks with Armenian goods have to wait ten days on average to go through the checkpoint. ‘We are in daily communication with our Russian colleagues trying to increase the checkpoint’s capacity," he said.
According to him, a discussion was scheduled today with Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, on mechanisms to restore the capacity of Upper Lars as soon as possible.
Earlier, Kerobyan reported that control was tightened at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgian border after the explosion on the Crimean Bridge.
The media periodically reports about traffic jams at the Upper Lars checkpoint, which is the only overland road connecting Armenia with Russia, with companies bearing large losses due to the loss of perishable goods, ARKA reports.
