Home-bound Armenian drivers have complained about long queues of vehicles at the entrance from Russia to Georgia that officials in Yerevan describe as a “technical issue.”
Vehicles, including passenger cars and freight trucks, have lined up for many kilometers at the Upper Lars checkpoint, one driver told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
“We didn’t sleep a wink last night as we had to inch our way through a long queue,” he complained.
Truck drivers say they use a special app to track the number of vehicles in the queue. On Thursday afternoon the app showed more than 4,700 vehicles waiting in the Russian section of the border crossing.
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Vahan Hakobian, a customs attache at the Armenian embassy in Moscow, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the queue of passenger cars stretched at least six kilometers, but that of trucks was significantly longer. He said that a separate electronic queue was applied for trucks which could only proceed to Vladikavkaz, the capital of the Russian republic of Northern Ossetia, and beyond with a special permit.
Clogged traffic at the Upper Lars checkpoint on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border has become a common occurrence throughout most of the year.
In winter officials attribute the congestion to blizzards that make the Upper Lars road impassable, while heavy rains complicate travels in spring and autumn. Now officials cite the influx of tourists as the reason for the long queues of vehicles at the border crossing.
Hakobian explained that the congestion was primarily due to Russian tourists traveling to Georgia.
“The queues are due to the tourist season. Tourist flows have recently doubled. Both the Russian and Georgian sides at the Upper Lars border crossing are struggling to manage the queue quickly. I think we are going to see some relief by the end of the month when the tourist season will be ending,” Hakobian added.
Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan acknowledged the issue with border crossing capacity. “It is a technical issue that is not related to Armenia,” he said.
The official also said that the problem would be solved in due course, but did not specify how.
The only viable alternative to the Upper Lars crossing considered by the Armenian government so far is a ferry from the Russian port of Novorossiysk to the Georgian port of Batumi, from where the journey to Armenia continues by land.
Papoyan’s predecessor, Vahan Kerobian, had long advocated that sea transportation project as an alternative to the sole land route connecting Armenia to Russia. However, the project, launched in the summer of 2022 and costing the state approximately $1.2 million, proved ineffective after several months of operation.
Kerobian noted at the time that the ferry had failed to generate sufficient interest among exporters and importers.
The current minister also said that Armenian businesses still preferred the Upper Lars route despite the complications caused by the queues.
“As we launched the ferry, Russia increased capacity through Upper Lars, in which case the ferry was no longer needed… Our businessmen continue to use that road and consider it more preferable despite the potential queues. I believe these queues will decrease in the near future,” Papoyan said.
An Armenian truck driver stuck in the long queue at the Russian side said some truck drivers had to wait in the electronic queue for months before they could return home. “At the moment, 5,000 vehicles are in the queue. Poor drivers are waiting in line for their turn to return home. They have to wait [in the electronic queue] for months,” said the driver, who did not wish to be identified.
People stuck in traffic on the Georgian and Russian sides at this moment are posting on the Russian-language tourist website, kray-zemli.com, complaining about the situation and revealing that they have to wait in queues for hours and days.
