Russia should have foreseen the possible impact of the sale of Vorotan Hydro Cascade CJSC to a US company on the operation of the Russian companies in Armenia, Russian political expert Andrey Areshev said during a Yerevan-Moscow video bridge.
Over the past few years the opinion has been that Armenia depends on Russia and cannot do without it, but the reality has proved to be different. "Today we see that a wedge is gradually being driven into the Russian-Armenian relations and this concerns not only energy but also other sectors. When the issue of the sale of the Vorotan Hydro Cascade was raised, Russia should have considered buying it or at least part of the shares in that company," said the expert. He thinks that very often Russia starts thinking better of it when it is too late. Areshev also stressed the need to correctly estimate the role of Armenia as the only reliable ally of Russia in the South Caucasus in order not to lose that ally.
When summing up the results of the meeting of the Armenian and Russian Presidents in Moscow on September 7, the Russian expert stressed that the spectrum of issues discussed by the presidents is wide enough and covers a number of sectors, including security and the Karabakh peace process. "Russia's provision of the 200 mln USD loan for Armenia's defense, transfer of the Permyakov case to Armenia and reduction in the Russian gas prices are issues, which were reported beforehand.
Areshev also pointed out certain EU steps aimed at formation of a framework agreement with Armenia and Belarus, which would allow promoting the relations. "I think there are some issue to be discussed because Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union and it is undergoing domestic political processes related to constitutional reforms. Any such transformation cannot remain unnoticed by Russia," he said, pointing out the need to coordinate the measures for further cooperation.
To recall, on June 8, an agreement on purchase-and-sale and transfer of the property rights of the Vorotan Cascade of HPPs CJSC was signed in the Government of Armenia. The agreement was signed by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Armenia Yervand Zakharyan, Director General of the Vorotan Cascade of HPPs Sasun Khachatryan as well as the authorized representative of Contour Global Hydro Cascade and ContourGlobal Terra Holdings - Executive Officer of CG Solutions Global Holding Company Joseph Brandt. Vorotan Cascade of HPPs consists of three hydro-power plants with a total capacity of 404MW. The Cascade operates year-round thanks to its two reservoirs and helps regulating the frequencies of power exchange from Iran to Armenia and the vice versa. The designed capacity of the Cascade is 1.16 bln kWh electricity annually.
ContourGlobal is a New York based international power-generation company with approximately 3,500 MW in operations or under construction in 17 countries and on four continents. ContourGlobal's 1,650 employees manage, own and operate a portfolio of 33 power plants utilizing a wide range of fuel types and technologies including renewable energy production based upon Hydro, wind, solar and biomass, as well as an extensive fleet of conventionally powered thermal power plants. In the wider Eastern Europe area, ContourGlobal currently owns and operates approximately 1100 MW of power generation businesses in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, and Poland.