The Russian “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” paper published an article on Friday with the title “Armenia is ready to change: Yerevan dreams about the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline”.
According to “Nezavisimaya Gazeta”, Armenia, which is Russia’s most strategic ally in the South Caucasus, “is ready to give a blow to Moscow’s economic interests at any given time”. The basis for this conclusion was the announcement made by Armenian Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan at the National Assembly on February 7, when he said that Armenia wishes to join the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline and, according to the paper, the construction of the pipeline is aimed to weaken the gas-exporting Central Asian countries’ dependence on the Russian gas pipelines.
Based on the paper, Oskanyan said: “We currently receive Russian gas; soon we will receive gas from Iran and plan on applying to get gas by the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline from Central Asia. The diversification of Armenia’s energetic resources is of major significance for Armenia and we are going to try to solve that problem in any way we can.” The paper also writes that this is not the first time that Oskanyan announced something like that; in fact, he made a similar announcement a month ago. As of right now, the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline project is the following: Tengiz (Kazakhstan)-Turkmenbashi (Turkmenistan)-Baku (Azerbaijan)-Tbilisi (Georgia)-Erzrum (Turkey). The implementation of the project is foreseen for 2008. The “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” writes that Oskanyan has clarified that it’s not about delivering gas from Azerbaijan to Armenia, but rather through the gas pipeline from Central Asian countries with which Armenia has no conflicts with getting gas supply. The gazette also writes that the Armenian Foreign Minister also emphasized that Armenia is not ready to make compromises for gas while in conflict with Azerbaijan. “Baku immediately responded to Oskanyan’s announcements. Press speaker of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Tahir Taghizade told “Turan” agency that no bilateral or multilateral cooperation is possible with Armenia until the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is settled,” writes Nezavisimaya Gazeta”. The paper writes that experts also don’t think that Armenia will join the project implementation. “In this case, the announcements made by the Armenian Foreign Minister are not that correct in regard to Russia. Yerevan practically has no chance ofo receiving Central Asian gas and the anti-Russian announcements may essentially complicate the friendly ties with Moscow,” wrote “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” in its Friday edition and added: “Let’s mention that currently, Armenia is highly dependent on the good will of Russia. This year Yerevan purchases Russian gas for 110 dollars for 1000 cubic meters and the price is fixed until 2009. Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey receive the Russian gas for 230 dollars. Besides that, instead of the debt, Moscow agrees to not take money, but rather Armenia’s productive actives. In particular, “Gasprom” will acquire the Iran-Armenia gas pipeline and the Hrazdan water/electricity station.”