Approximately 100 trucks have appeared in a jam on the Russian-Georgian border because Tbilisi shut down Kazbek-Upper Lars checkpoints. The majority of the trucks were traveling to Armenia but now the drivers have to indefinitely wait on the border.
The Georgian side connects the closure of the checkpoint with the inclement weather conditions. The head of the analytical department of the ministry of foreign affairs of Georgia Shota Utiashvilli stated that the checkpoint of Kazbek-Upper Lars road was closed for certain types of tow vehicles (trucks with tows and vehicles of over 30 passengers) because of heavy snow. The Armenian freight movers agree that the reason is really the weather conditions and that the roads have become very dangerous. The problem is that the Georgians have closed the border without notification. In this regard the Russian foreign affairs ministry has released a statement, in which it demands that the Georgian side clarifies the reasons of the road jam. However, the Armenian side, despite the created problems, has been acting with great comprehension to this matter, by mentioning that it was not expected and that during winter months this checkpoint has always been subject to closure. At this moment the most important thing is the ability of providing help to the Armenian drivers, who are stuck at the checkpoint. Yesterday on the phone with us the director of the association of international cargo transportation Herbert Hambardzumyan said that the drivers are in standby mode. “In the area from Lars to Pyatigorsk in the middle of 200-250 kilometers there are about 200 trucks on hold. We don’t know how this matter will be resolved,” he said by expressing hope that this matter will be resolved during today’s meeting of Serzh Sargsyan to Georgia. Hambardzumyan also denied all the rumors that the trucks of certain Armenian freight moving companies are easily passing through the checkpoint. When speaking about this, the minister of transportation of Armenia Manuk Vardanyan recently said to the journalists that it is not true. “Spayka has heavy trucks, which help they can move several cars. Two days ago I hosted a meeting with the cargo moving company representatives, including Spayka. It was agreed that this company will help the other company trucks to move from the Georgian side.” As it’s pretty common in the Armenian reality, despite the refutations, these rumors about Spayka have immediately attained political colors. There were rumors spread that Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan is directly involved in that. And that only due to his support the gates of the checkpoint are opened for Spayka trucks. And mostly two facts caused these rumors. First, based on the government decisions of July 2010 and February 3 of 2011 the taxes that Spayka was due to pay in the amount of 300 million AMD were prolonged respectively till the dates of July 2013 and February 1, 2014. And besides that the visit of the Prime minister to Spayka was quite broadly covered by media. Moreover, the mass focused on the fact that only two months before the Premier’s visit a criminal case has been launched against the president of Spayka Davit Ghazaryan. He was charged for forgery. At that time the State Revenue Committee informed tert.am that the case is underway. At any rate, if the case is not further investigated and expunged and if the Premier visit Spayka in two months after the arrest then it gives grounds to assume that Tigran Sargsyan is linked to Spayka. We have tried to clear out the rumors of the trucks of Spayka from the director of the company Davit Ghazaryan. The latter confirmed that the road conditions are really terrible and at that moment they had 10 trucks which couldn’t even be tugged to the depot. Ghazaryan reiterated that their company has Volvo tow trucks in production of 2011, which the help of which they tow their trucks out from the snow. As of the help to other trucks the director pledged that they were willing to help other companies as well. But he didn’t want to take a big responsibility. The problem is that the road conditions are so bad that even tow trucks are in hazard.
“Yesterday we were almost having an accident. Our new vehicle had a slide on the ice and hit another car from our company. The cabin was broken and we need 15k dollars to repair. I mean there is a big danger. We are ready to help other companies, but we will not be responsible for any accidents that may happen. We cannot take such responsibility,” said D. Ghazaryan. It turns out that nobody is ready to take on such responsibility. The Georgian party does not allow to carry vehicles of other companies either. That is the reason why over 100 companies are now stuck at the border. We asked to comment on the rumors that the operation of the Spayka and their transportation opportunities are supported by the prime-minister. “Whatever they say, the fact is that we were going to get ready for the winter and had prepared the technical facilities not to have problems. Didn’t the other freight forwarding companies know that winter would come? They would be better to act too because it is almost twenty years that they are in the market. Instead of working they are spreading rumors and making it a topic of discussion,” said Davit Ghazaryan. While the companies and the government are discussing this topic and seeking solutions, drivers are in a very bad situation at the border. According to the www.vesti.ru, many vehicles are at the border for about three weeks, their fuel is finishing soon and many of them cannot bear it anymore and have health problems. The www.news.am has been informed by Armenia’s consulate in Rostov that members of the Armenian community are supplying food and cigarettes to the border passing point. However, it does not make the drivers happy because there has been snowfall again and there is a risk that they may spend December at the border.