Russia continues to put pressure on Armenia: it has also restricted fish imports
Russia is suspending imports of seafood from all Armenian processing plants except two, the country’s agricultural safety regulator announced on Monday. As Yerevan seeks closer ties with the European Union (EU), the list of Armenian food products banned for import by Moscow continues to grow, reports the independent Russian news portal “The Moscow Times”.
Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (“Rosselkhoznadzor”) stated that this decision was taken following a week-long series of inspections at Armenian fish processing plants and trout breeding and farming facilities. According to the service, half of the businesses targeted for inspection refused to participate in these checks.
“Based on the results, Armenia must, from 2 June, suspend the veterinary certification of consignments of live fish and seafood from all Armenian companies destined for recipients in Russia“ – stated “Rosselkhoznadzor”.
Only two companies that have successfully passed the inspections will be permitted to import products into Russia; these will be subject to “laboratory safety monitoring”.
Russia has recently restricted the sale or import of Armenian agricultural products, flowers, mineral water and alcoholic beverages, allegedly due to various health and safety violations.
This series of restrictions comes ahead of this Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Armenia, in which Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s “Civic Agreement” party is facing a challenge from various pro-Russian opposition groups.
As reported by ELTA, Russia’s Ministry of Energy openly threatened Armenia last week with the termination of a favourable gas supply contract, whilst the Kremlin recently summoned its ambassador in Yerevan for “consultations” its ambassador in Yerevan for “consultations”.
The reason for this is Armenia’s rapprochement with the European Union (EU) and its long-term goal of joining the Union. This has caused great indignation amongst the ruling circles in Moscow, where Armenia is regarded as part of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation.
In April, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Yerevan that Armenia cannot be a member of both the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union at the same time.
In recent years, Armenia has shifted its foreign policy direction and turned away from Russia – partly because Moscow did not take military action when Azerbaijan launched an offensive against ethnic Armenian separatists in September 2023.
