Russia will not suffer critical economic shocks from falling trade turnover with Armenia, a senior diplomat at the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Mikael Agasandyan, director of the First Department of CIS Countries at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, told news agency RIA Novosti that Armenia accounts for a relatively small share of Russian foreign trade.
Agasandyan stated that the reduction of trade between Armenia, Russia, and the broader Eurasian Economic Union would not cause critical shocks because Yerevan holds a low share in trade turnover with member states. He added that trade between Yerevan and fellow bloc members Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan remains insignificant.
Trade turnover between Russia and Armenia has dropped by one third since the start of the year when compared to the total figure recorded in 2025. In 2024, bilateral trade between the two nations stood at approximately 12 billion dollars, before dropping to 8 billion dollars in 2025.
Import restrictions hit agricultural exports
The decline in commercial activity follows import restrictions introduced by Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian federal agricultural oversight agency, on selected products from the post-Soviet republic. The temporary import ban targets shipments of Jermuk mineral water as well as agricultural produce including stone fruits, grapes, sour cherries, sweet cherries, apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarines.
Sergey Dankvert, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor, stated that the import restrictions on Armenian agricultural products were caused by a lack of effective quality control among local producers, rather than political considerations.
Grant Mikhaelyan, an economist and expert at the Caucasus Institute research organization, noted that Armenia experienced a sharp collapse in export revenues from fruits and vegetables after access to the Russian market was closed.
Economic links across the Eurasian bloc
Armenia is a landlocked South Caucasian nation that shares close economic ties with Russia and neighboring post-Soviet states. The Eurasian Economic Union is a regional economic union established to foster integration, establishing a single market that allows the free movement of goods, services, capital, and labor among its five member countries.
Russian regulatory decisions regarding sanitary standards frequently exert significant influence on trade dynamics within the region. Products affected by the latest Russian restrictions, such as seasonal fruits and Jermuk mineral water, produced in the Armenian town of Jermuk, form a key component of Armenia's traditional export trade to Russian consumer markets.
