(90-95)% of agricultural products produced in Armenia are sold in Russian markets. That agricultural product quality properties and product appearance generally do not meet the international standards of the EU and other developed countries, and a significant part of the population in Russia is not solvent and is unable to buy high-quality agricultural products at a high price and is forced to buy our local products cheaply. Diversification, finding new markets and buyers and meeting the international standards of new countries is not an easy task. Also, if you exit the market in that country, someone else will quickly take your place.

Now, about Armenia’s EU integration. We all want to integrate into the developed and civilized EU family, it’s a very good desire and aspiration, but leaving the political part of that process aside, let’s try to see what kind of agriculture we have, do we need the EU at all or not, and will it accept us into its family or not? Today, our country’s agriculture is in a poor, underdeveloped state, in particular, more than half of the country’s arable land is degraded and not cultivated, the water supply system is in a poor state, the existing agricultural machinery is outdated, the products do not meet EU standards, etc. On the other hand, integration into the EU the process is quite lengthy and not easy.
Now let’s try to understand what is the state of agriculture in the Eastern Partnership countries that want to integrate into the EU.

in 2026 Ukraine The EU has earmarked 12 million euros for agriculture and rural development, as well as food security reforms. With that money, the EU will support small farmers and help Ukraine’s legislation and practices to bring agriculture, food safety, animal health, phytosanitary policy into line with EU standards.

in 2026 to Moldova By allocating 60 million euros of financial support, the EU is financing the adaptation of Moldovan agricultural products to EU standards, the active integration of farmers into the EU market, turning Moldova into a major exporter of agricultural products, particularly plums. The EU supports the modernization of Moldova’s agricultural sector with grants and loans.

In previous years of Georgia the EU has made large financial investments in the field of agriculture. Currently, it is actively modernizing through the ENPARD program, supporting the creation of cooperatives and the introduction of European quality standards. Georgia has EU candidate status and the DCFTA agreement gives it access to the European market, although political processes affect the pace of integration. The EU is actively supporting Azerbaijan to the agricultural sector, financing projects for small farmers, cooperation with Slow Food, and is a major lender. However, the EU’s strict sanitary regulations often prevent certain products from being imported.

Now let’s try to see how the political processes in some of these countries affected agriculture.

In order to support Ukraine, the EU allowed Ukrainian agricultural products to enter the territory of EU countries without restrictions (without inspection and taxation) and for sale. The latter provoked the anger of farmers in EU countries and became one of the main reasons for the implementation of EU farmers’ demonstrations. In order to support Georgia, when Georgian wines were sent back from the Russian markets, the EU allowed these wines to enter the territory of the EU countries without restrictions.

Perhaps, Pashinyan was also promised in the EU to allow the import of Armenian fruits and vegetables to the EU markets, but the question arises: how competitive will the Armenian fruits and vegetables be in the markets of the EU countries, and will their selling prices be profitable?

2025 in August, Azerbaijan sent a large shipment of tomatoes by truck to Russia for sale, but Russia did not accept it and sent it back, after that the shipment was sent to the EU country Bulgaria, but the EU did not accept it, citing that it did not meet EU phytosanitary norms, and the trucks overloaded with tomatoes had to return. As a result, a large batch of tomatoes spoiled and was thrown away. The same process is being carried out in Armenia today, and a large batch of tomatoes from Armenia was sent back across the border.

Some people jokingly say: let Armenia send its tomatoes to Azerbaijan “Trump’s way” and Azerbaijan send its tomatoes to Armenia in the same way. Russia has announced that it will apply the blockade to any fruits and vegetables exported from Armenia.

Since 2014, Russia has implemented an embargo, banning the import of a number of food products (beef, pork, poultry, sausages, seafood, vegetables, fruits and dairy products) into Russia. The farmers of the EU countries came out against that decision. They were also dissatisfied and started protests against the import and sale of cheap and low-quality agricultural products from the MERCOSUR (South American countries of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, etc.) associated common market to EU countries.
Summing up, I should mention that I am of the opinion that we should not escalate relations with Russia, we do not want to get involved in the Russia-West conflict, instead, we want to have good relations with all countries, and Leaving Russia’s agricultural market at once for a small country like Armenia would be a catastrophic, gross mistake, as a result of which our country’s economy could collapse.

Sargis Sedrakyan
Chairman of Farmer Movement NGO,
Strategic programs
Chairman of the Civil Cooperation Network

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The EU will provide 50 million euros to Armenia, as the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said during a telephone conversation with Nikol Pashinyan yesterday, “Regarding the measures to ease the trade of some Armenian products, in particular, agricultural food products. And regarding the practical support of the affected sectors, such as Armenian flowers.”

According to him, the restrictions applied by Russia to Armenia are nothing but economic pressure, and it is unacceptable.

“Europe firmly stands by Armenia. We are preparing a support package.” noted Layen.

At the last session of the government, a decision was made to give compensation for one month to those people who could not export their crops during this period. It is not clear what these people should do with their crops in the following months.

Former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Ashot Harutyunyan by definition, this is another decision made hastily by the Government, without serious economic justifications and economic assessment.

“From today, I warn our businessmen that this is going to be another serious dispute, then criminal cases, in any case, let them be careful. another trap is set. It is very strange for me, for example, the size and price of the subsidy, if they subsidize the price of 1 kilogram of strawberries by 770 drams, where is the calculated and confirmed cost price? What damages did they suffer or will suffer that they want to compensate?

The strawberries were returned by couriers, which is no longer subject to export, there are no relevant documents to submit to the Ministry of Economy in order to receive the compensation. Here they will divide again, they will turn against each other again, they will create grounds for criminal cases.” of 168.am Ashot Harutyunyan said in a conversation with

According to our interlocutor, this government will not exist after June 7, and they will not continue to provide this support economically, because the budget is empty, debts have increased. And the 50 million dollars mentioned by the president of the EU Commission did not come to Armenia immediately, it still needs to be approved.

“You are doing another action to support yourselves, because the middle-level businessmen here will definitely not win, you will hear the sound of this. Call it whatever you want, I consider this a pre-election promise, which will not be fulfilled along with the rest of the promises. “According to my information, yesterday they started paying the subsidies for autumn wheat from last year, they brought so much tension and they are transferring money 1-2 days before the elections,” said Ashot Harutyunyan.

Our interlocutor raises a rhetorical question: if the apricots and cherries are fully harvested, where will they be exported and sold, is there enough compensation money in the budget?

“I don’t believe them politically, because they are liars from top to bottom, it’s time for them to go.

I always say that we have gone through a lot of ups and downs, and this is another test. This is not only the EU-EEU problem, it has a price that must be paid. I am sure that if the EU is ready to support Armenia and they don’t want to put Armenia to the test once again, if they don’t want to turn it into a second Ukraine, then where was it during the 44-day war, where were they, even with their political statements, to encourage the war, to tie Aliyev’s hands? “There was no political announcement or support, which means this is another deception,” he stressed.

 Details in the video of 168.am

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Although Moscow has toughened the rhetoric towards official Yerevan, simultaneously applying economic restrictions, Russia hopes that the next meeting at the level of foreign ministers of the South Caucasus “3 3” format (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and their three neighbors Russia, Turkey, Iran) will be held in Baku or Yerevan. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin announced at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. “As we understand, the negotiations on this issue continue between our Azerbaijani and Armenian partners,” he said.

RA Deputy Foreign Minister Vahan Kostanyan told the media last year that the next meeting in the “3 3” format could take place either in Yerevan or Baku. “The Republic of Armenia has expressed its readiness to host the regular ministerial meeting of the “3 3″ regional consultative platform. The Republic of Azerbaijan also expressed a similar willingness,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the media. To date, however, there is no exact information about holding the platform meeting in Yerevan or Baku.

“I would especially like to welcome the participation of the representative of Georgian expert circles in our discussion. For us, as for all participants of the platform, Georgia remains an important partner, without which the prospects of “3 3″ are unlikely to be complete. I hope that over time official Tbilisi will also join our work,” added Galuzin.

Official Tbilisi regularly announces that Georgia will not participate in meetings in this format. From Moscow, however, they continue to declare that the doors of the “3 3” format are always open for Georgia. In addition, Moscow has been announcing for months that the next meeting in this format will be held in Yerevan and Baku, but the meeting in this format never takes place.

Russian analyst Vladimir Yevseyev of 168.amtold that the Russian announcement on holding the meeting of the “3 3” platform in Yerevan or Baku once again emphasizes the discontinuity that exists in this format.

According to him, although the Russian side tries to present the failure of the meeting as a purely technical or logistical problem related to the choice of the host city, in reality the reasons are deep geopolitical. He also drew attention to the current situation in Armenian-Russian relations, as well as Armenia’s desire to join EAEU and EU.

Yevseyev believes that in general nothing surprising happens, the processes are a logical continuation of each other, the lack of agreement between Yerevan and Baku or the months-long negotiation on this topic is not the result of organizational incompetence, but the tactical steps of the parties, where each has its own calculations in the new architecture of the South Caucasus.

“With these delays, both Armenia and Azerbaijan are solving the problem of weakening or at least limiting the influence of Russia and Iran in the region in their own way.

At this stage, the “3 3” format is promoted by Moscow and Tehran as a tool to block the access of extra-regional powers to the South Caucasus and to solve all issues at the “local level”, where they have a decisive voice. Avoiding or postponing meetings in this format, Yerevan and Baku do not allow these two powers to fully control the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement process and dictate their own agenda. And the main reason is very simple, because there is active cooperation with the West, the USA and the EU,” Yevseyev said.

According to him, the postponement of the meeting for Armenia fits into the logic of diversification of foreign policy and deepening of relations with Western partners.

According to Yevseyev, Yerevan seeks to avoid platforms that are only under the influence of Russia and Iran, because they limit the involvement of the West in the region, especially in a situation where Armenia wants to maintain only the economic agenda with Russia, seeking to maintain membership in the EAEU, but having an agenda for EU membership. He clarified that if the West is actively working to strengthen its own agenda, isolating Russia and Iran, then why should it be interested in the development of a new format?

“Therefore, neither Yerevan nor Baku is interested in “3 3”, the Russian Federation understands this very well, but does not give up on that format, because at some stage it may be necessary, and at some stage positions may change.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan, although outwardly in favor of the withdrawal of extra-regional forces, is also not interested in the strengthened positions of Russia or Iran. Baku prefers direct, bilateral negotiations with Armenia without any mediator. Therefore, this diplomatic “dead end” created around “3 3″, although it is not accidental, it shows the changed geopolitical architecture in the South Caucasus,” he said.

Speaking V:about the lack of interest of Russia, the analyst said that the lack of interest in the “3 3” format in the case of Georgia has fundamental political grounds due to the lack of diplomatic relations with Russia.

“It is difficult for Tbilisi to imagine participating in a platform where Moscow is a key player, but this position can be transformed over time if Georgia’s positions are softened. Russia initially believed that Georgia would participate in the format and not be left out of regional cooperation, but Georgia began to strengthen contacts with Yerevan and Baku. Although I should note that this positioning can change,” Yevseyev noted.

The analyst believes that along with all this, the factor of Turkey should not be ignored, which, being one of the initiators of the “3 3” format, is more inclined to activate Ankara-Baku-Yerevan direct or tripartite connections than to act on a common platform with Moscow and Tehran.

“Ankara also seeks to maximize its own influence in the South Caucasus, and the weakening of the positions of Russia and Iran fits into the context of Turkish geopolitical interests. As a result, a situation is obtained where the freezing of the “3 3″ format, albeit with different motives, is beneficial to almost all the main regional players,” he said.

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Yesterday, at the regular session of the Government, a decision was made to compensate those who are unable to export their tomatoes, peppers and strawberries from Armenia. The decision, however, refers to the next month and what will happen in the coming months, the Government did not propose any solution.

Parallel to all this, yesterday the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Nikol Pashinyan had a telephone conversation, where they discussed the restrictions recently applied by Russia to Armenia.

“This is nothing but economic pressure, and it is unacceptable. Europe firmly stands by Armenia. We are preparing a support package,” noted Layen.

According to the president of the European Commission, the package includes immediate financial assistance in the amount of more than 50 million euros. “Regarding the measures to ease the trade of some Armenian products, in particular, agricultural food products. And regarding the practical support of the affected sectors, such as Armenian flowers.”

Economist Hayk Farmanyan in other words, EAEU and EU markets are different things and in terms of demand for Armenian products, they are in different situations.

“EU standards are such that there is practically no demand for Armenian products. these volumes are so small that they are not adequate from the point of view of demand.” of 168.am Hayk Farmanyan said in a conversation with

As for the latest decision of the Government, about the so-called compensation, according to Hayk Farmanyan, this is pre-election bribery, because compensation is given to other representatives of society at the expense of a part of taxpayers.

“If I put it in a more accessible language, it says that: I provide you with money for your logistics, appropriate customs clearance, export wherever you want. Now, if your product is not in demand, no matter how much they want to finance it from the budget, it will not have a long life, that is, you cannot finance the entrepreneurs endlessly, you have to find markets for the sale of the product.

Take, for example, our wines, the wine must be in demand in the Italian, French or other European markets. Now, if there is no demand for that product, no matter how much they finance, the issue will not be resolved.

We have always said that if the government’s goal is to diversify our exports, then they should diversify not only the European direction, but also Arab countries, China, Vietnam, Korea, etc., Hayk Farmanyan added.

According to his observation, there are only political goals in all of this, therefore, Ursula von der Leyen’s statement about 50 million dollars is not accidental, reminding that only 10 million dollars were provided for Artsakh Armenians displaced from Artsakh. How is it that they provide only 10 million dollars in aid for the Armenians of Artsakh, and now they finance the Government of Armenia with 50 million dollars?

“It is clear that the current government has made Armenia the focal point of the clash of geopolitical poles. As for funding from the budget, I consider it a bribe, and one cannot please one part of our society at the expense of another. this does not have a long life.

The authorities are harming Armenian exporters with their behavior, they will finance them now, but after the elections they will again face the “old trough”. I would urge our exporters to realize that they will suffer because of the incompetent policy of the authorities,” Hayk Farmanyan.

According to him, the government does not offer anything other than compensation to Armenian producers, it only makes statements. The government has mixed the political agendas with the economic agenda, as a result of which the producer and exporter of agricultural products suffers.

“I repeat, in order to export Armenian products to Europe, they must first have a demand, it is not the case that an ordinary European needs our products. Now, for example, they want to export flowers to Latvia, look at the logistics, its cost is so high that it has no life in the future. Today, the government is solving a short-term problem in order to please exporters and producers of agricultural products.

Now the government of Armenia is cutting the branch on which it is sitting, it is a simple logic, there is nothing complicated,” emphasized Hayk Farmanyan.

Details in the video of 168.am

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We will elect a new leader nationally, and there are those.

There have always been such people who did not get spoiled in these situations, kept to themselves, did not change their spouses.

Just a few days before the election, there are still people looking for a leader, arguing about who should rule and how.

And those people, the main leaders of the opposition, have already said what and how they will fix it if they come.

Details in the video

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Against the background of widespread failures, Nikol Pashinyan has always been proud that he managed to ensure high growth in the economy. Let’s leave aside what it was as a result of and how much the government has to do with these increases. But what is happening in the economy recently shows that the government is also losing that trump card.

The rates of economic growth have slowed down significantly. And what is much worse, as a result of the tension in Armenian-Russian relations, the risks related to the economy and economic growth have greatly increased.

The policies implemented by the authorities have led to the fact that the economy is facing serious risks of recession. The consequences of that policy are becoming increasingly noticeable.

According to official statistics, the economic growth of Armenia in the first quarter of this year was only 4 percent.

This is the lowest growth recorded in 2021. after. 2022 it was 8.6 percent, 12.1 percent in 2023, 9.2 percent in 2024, and 5.2 percent in 2025.

In the structure of the economy trade and services had the largest share, reaching almost 68 percent of GDP. Industry incl՝ energy had a share of only 16-17 percent.

Agriculture has been declining again, as a result of which not only the volume of agricultural products has decreased, but also the weight of agriculture in the economy. It provided only 3.1 percent of GDP, instead of 3.6 percent of the previous year.

The weight of the processing industry also decreased, dropping from 7.8 percent last year to 7.7 percent.

The financial sector, which has had a significant impact on economic growth in recent years, has entered the recession phase. The decline was 13 percent, as a result of which the weight of that sector in the economy decreased.

The share of information technologies also decreased, from 7.1 to 6.9 percent.

Trade, as always, contributed the most to the 4 percent economic growth recorded in the first quarter, followed by industry, due to the expansion of subsoil exploitation in particular. The contribution of construction was about 0.7 percent, and agriculture had a negative contribution.

As in the previous few years, the influence of external factors continued to be felt on the economy. But it is gradually weakening, which is increasingly noticeable on the economic growth rates. Recently, these trends have been accompanied by much more dangerous phenomena that threaten to collapse the economy. The reckless steps and statements of the Armenian authorities have led to the fact that our economy faced the problem of losing the market of Russia, a key member of the EAEU, and seriously jeopardizing economic relations with that country.

You don’t understand what the hopes of the Armenian authorities rushing to the EU are on. Regardless of the authorities, the victim will be the economy and the people.

Businessmen are already feeling the direct damage of that policy.

Although it is not stated openly, it is nevertheless obvious that the economy of Armenia, which is small and highly dependent on the Russian market, is involved in an economic war with Russia, so to speak. A war which is one-sided and against which Armenia has no resources. Taking into account the unfriendly steps of the Armenian authorities, Russia has started to apply economic sanctions to the import of Armenian products.

From May 22, the import of flowers was limited, as a result of which many greenhouse farms faced the fact of losing the result of their work. The market of flowers exported from Armenia is mainly Russia. And such restrictions are a serious blow for businessmen operating in that business sector. It was announced that there are quality problems not only with flowers, but also with vegetables and fruits. The mass export of fruits may not have started yet, but the export of vegetables is already at risk.

After several warnings and restrictions, the import and sale of “Jermuk” in the Russian market was banned.

The sale of non-alcoholic beverages imported from Armenia, produced by various companies, was also suspended.

If it happens that this situation deepens and includes not only the chain of exports, but also the chain of imports, everything will be much more difficult.

Against the background of restrictions on the import of some Armenian products, recently there have been frequent rumors and hints about the increase in the price of Russian gas supplied to Armenia. It is not difficult to imagine what effect the increase in gas prices will have on the economy. Especially since today there is no alternative to it. No one is ready to supply gas to Armenia at such a price as it is supplied to Armenia within the framework of the advantages provided by EAEU.

Even if we ignore the unwanted developments taking place in one of the main markets for producers and the possible risks related to the import of some strategic goods, the existing tension in the Armenian-Russian economic relations alone is enough for the economic processes in Armenia to appear in a canned state. Statements by the authorities regarding the possibility of using new railway junctions are hopeless attempts to alleviate the situation. We are talking about both the Azeri and the Akhalkalak-Kars railway, regarding which Nikol Pashinyan hastened to give a “wink” to the business, considering it a great event in the life of our economy.

In fact, nothing, and even more so, is not a big event, it is just a figment of Nikol Pashinyan’s imagination. Akhalkalak-Kars will become as much as Azerbaijan’s railway has become the salvation of Armenia’s economy and exports. Even if we theoretically consider that Akhalkalak-Kars is a new export route to Europe, the economy cannot realize this opportunity, because the economy does not have such a potential to enter the European markets. Moreover, it will not have the time when it loses its competitiveness even more due to the increase in the prices of energy carriers.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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