Armenian debts and gas prices are top secret

Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza

The deal made during Vladimir Putin’s visit to Armenia on giving the remaining 20% of securities of ArmRosgazprom to the Russian side is still being discussed. As the result of the stock sale, the gas monopolist of Armenia ARG now completely belongs to Russia.

Now the Minister of Energy Armen Movsisyan makes sensational statements everyday. On December 2nd he stated that 20% of securities were given to Gazprom in discharge of Armenia’s gas debt ($155 million) without explaining where the debt came from.

The intrigue was enhanced by the fact that even MPs form the ruling Republican Party didn’t know about the huge debt. MPs only stated that the political importance of this standard commercial deal is much greater than the question on debts.

On December 4th the opposition inundated Movsisyan with questions, and he spoke about $300 million. According to him, debts began to accumulate in April of 2011 when gas prices grew, while Armenia continued to pay $180 for thousand cubic meters on the border. “As the result of long talks it was decided that a half of the debt ($150 million) Armenia will repay by giving 20% of ARG to the Russian side, while the rest of debt Russia will repay.” At the same time the minister didn’t explain why consumers who pay regularly for gas knew nothing about the accumulated debts. “We have never hid information on debts. Talks went on; $300 million was detected during the talks; it could be worse,” Movsisyan stated, giving no comments on why it could be worse.

Other questions remained unanswered as well. If the Russian share in ARG was 80%, why did the countries decide to share the debt equally? Moreover, why did Moscow agreed to repay a half of Armenia’s debt? Why did Gazprom decide to deal with charity? Today the talks remain secret; and Movsisyan said he couldn’t comment on the details.

Meanwhile, the information which was discovered causes mistrust and indignation of the Armenian political and expert circles.

The former prime minister, Grant Bagratyan, is surprised by the way a price of 20% of securities has been defined, as ARG hasn’t been put up for sale. He believes that in such cases to find out a company’s cost, the whole volume of sold gas should be tripled: “Thus, ARG’s cost is no less than $1.2 billion. And 20% of it – not $150 million, but $240 million. I urge the authorities to explain selling the public property!”

However, the main question is why the authorities hid the real gas prices from the population for 2.5 years and didn't declare that negotiations on increasing gas prices were being conducted with Russia.

It seems the reason lies in the political sphere. “The authorities only declared an increase in gas prices on May 12, after the elections to the Council of the Elders in Yerevan,” a member of the opposition Armenian National Congress, Vaagn Khachatryan, says. It was true that the election cycle lasted from 2011 to May 2013. It seems the government did its best to hide the real situation from the population to protect its political positions.