Russia will begin banning the import of Armenian dairy products starting from 27 July, citing the alleged presence of ‘milk from infected livestock’. The move is the latest in a series of import restrictions imposed on Armenian products in what has been widely viewed as politically motivated.

The sweeping restrictions began in the leadup to the June parliamentary elections in Armenia, which the Kremlin clearly expressed hope Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract party would lose. The import bans have continued since Pashinyan’s party won the election and expanded into other spheres as both the EU and the Armenian government have attempted to soften the impact by diversifying exports.

The ban on dairy products was announced by Russia’s Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) on Friday.

Rosselkhoznadzor further claimed Armenia ‘lacks a system to confirm the origin and safety of milk or other dairy raw materials used in production’, and that in general, Armenia is ‘failing to monitor agricultural producers’,

Previously, Russia had banned the import of a wide range of Armenian products, including alcohol, flowers, fruits, vegetables, mineral water, fish, and others.

While Russia continues introducing new restrictions, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Aleksei Overchuk has claimed that Russia did not ‘introduce any restrictions for Armenian imports at all’, calling it ‘usual normal work’.

Other Russian officials have said they would replace Armenian products in the Russian market with Azerbaijani goods.

The Armenian government has granted the operator of the news website 1in.am the right to use state-owned property in central Yerevan free of charge for three years. The decision has prompted criticism from media experts, who cited the lack of transparent criteria for providing state support to individual media outlets.

The decision was approved at the government’s 23 July session.

Under the decision, Sksizb Media Centre LLC, which operates 1in.am, will receive a 250-square-metre space in central Yerevan.

According to the government’s justification, the State Property Management Committee received an application from 1in.am requesting that the premises be ‘provided to the company free of charge to ensure the continuation of its regular and uninterrupted operations’.

The company also submitted an investment programme under which it pledged to invest ֏10 million ($26,000) over the next two years. The funds are to be used to renovate the premises, furnish workspaces, modernise technical infrastructure, and improve conditions for producing news content.

The proposal also envisages the production of at least 14,000 videos, reports, interviews, or programmes over three years, while generating at least 54 million views or reads across the outlet’s website and social media platforms.

Sksizb Media Centre was established in 2006 and it launched 1in.am in 2010. The company is owned by Arman Babajanyan, the leader of the Rally For the Republic party, who headed the party’s list in Armenia’s June 2026 parliamentary elections, but fell short of the threshold to join parliament.

He previously entered parliament in 2018 on the list of the Bright Armenia party before leaving its parliamentary faction the following year to serve as an independent MP. He founded the Rally For the Republic party in 2021 and has since become one of Armenia’s most prominent pro-Western politicians.

The party advocates closer ties with the EU, Armenia’s withdrawal from the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the normalisation of relations with neighbouring countries, and what it describes as ‘horizontal’ relations with Russia.

Babajanyan has also campaigned for Armenia’s European integration, including through the Eurovote initiative, as a result of which a bill calls on the government to seek EU integration in its second and final hearing submitted to the parliament and was eventually adopted in March 2025.

In an editorial statement published on Friday, 1in.am said the outlet had recently been facing financial and organisational difficulties due to rising rental costs.

The outlet said this prompted it to ask the government to consider allocating state-owned premises free of charge and expressed gratitude for its positive decision.

‘This decision will allow us to direct our limited resources towards the development of the news outlet, upgrading our technical capabilities, implementing new projects, and producing higher-quality journalism’, the statement read.

The decision has drawn criticism from media experts, who told CivilNet such state support for an individual media outlet is ‘problematic’, and stressed the importance of it being provided transparently and according to pre-established criteria.