Page "Economy of Armenia" Paragraph 79

The Upper Lars border crossing ( at Darial Gorge ) between Georgia and Russia across the Caucasus Mountains served as Armenia's sole overland route to the former Soviet Union and Europe.

It was controversially shut down by the Russian authorities in June 2006, at the height of a Russian-Georgian spy scandal.

Upper Lars is the only land border crossing that does not go through Georgia's Russian-backed breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The other two roads linking Georgia and Russia run through South Ossetia and Abkhazia, effectively barring them to international traffic.

This crossing is expected to reopen starting on March 1, 2010.