Russia has imposed “temporary restrictions” on the import of cut flowers from Armenia in another sign of mounting tensions between the two states.
The state agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor announced them late on Wednesday right after the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, met with other officials in Moscow to discuss the future of Russian-Armenian relations. Shoigu accused Yerevan of siding with the European Union against Russia and taking other hostile actions.
“Moscow cannot accept the line that the Armenian leadership is pursuing today; namely, the line that it will maintain membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) until, so to speak, it switches to membership in the European Union,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said after the meeting.
Rosselkhoznadzor attributed the restrictions, effective from Friday, to the presence of “quarantined objects” in flowers imported from Armenia. It said they will remain in place pending the findings of an ongoing sanitary inspection of Armenian flower greenhouses.
The Russian government agency already imposed such curbs last summer. Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate responded by stepping up sanitary controls and organizing video inspections of flower greenhouses for Rosselkhoznadzor.
The number of such greenhouses across the South Caucasus surpassed 700 flower last year, reflecting soaring flower exports to Russia. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, the physical volume of those exports surged by almost 50 percent to 52 million flowers in January-May 2025.
Russia is also the principal market for other agricultural products as well as alcoholic beverages exported by Armenia. Russian officials emphasize this fact in their warnings about economic consequences of the Armenian government’s European integration drive.
Meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian in Moscow on April 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Yerevan can no longer combine that policy with its membership in the EEU guaranteeing Armenian exporters’ tariff-free access to the Russian market.
Later in April, Russian authorities suspended on sanitary grounds sales of Armenia’s most famous brand of mineral water. More than 1.3 million bottles of the water produced by Armenia’s Jermuk Group were reportedly taken off the Russian market pending an ongoing inspection of its quality.
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Europe’s Intensifying Interest in Armenia Signals Shifting Regional Dynamics
Bottom Line Up Front:
- In recent years, Armenia has become increasingly important to Europe because of its geopolitical position, its proximity to Iran, and its role in a widening contest with Russia, whose interference has destabilized the continent and now appears aimed at interfering in Armenia’s June 2026 parliamentary elections.
- As the EU’s other partnerships in the South Caucasus grow more complicated, with Azerbaijan continuing along an authoritarian path, and Georgia undergoing renewed democratic backsliding, Armenia has emerged as an increasingly important strategic partner for Europe.
- Armenia’s complex and unique security environment results in a more opaque and vulnerable influence environment compared to other post-Soviet States, where Azerbaijani and Turkish narratives may intersect or compete with Russian ones.
- Suspicious practices within the pro-European party and insecurity in the region underscore the need for the EU to prioritize building strong institutions — particularly at the local level — rather than making support for individual political figures the centerpiece of its response to Russian hybrid tactics.
On May 4 and 5, European leaders gathered in Yerevan for two landmark meetings: the European Political Community summit — which included Canadian representation, signaling Canada’s imperative to increase influence in the EU — and the first-ever EU-Armenia summit. Armenia’s geographical position as an alternative corridor to Central Asia, allowing EU countries to bypass Russia, along with its ability to serve as a buffer to neighboring Iran, and its willingness to deepen institutional relations with democratic countries, represent an opportunity for the EU. At the same time, Armenia is set to hold a critical parliamentary election on June 7 amid record levels of Russian hybrid activity across Europe. Like many recent elections across Russia’s former sphere of influence, the vote will serve as a major test of the country’s political trajectory: whether Armenia can withstand Moscow’s pressure to return to its orbit, or whether it will continue deepening its alignment with Europe and the West.
Armenian-Russian relations first became strained when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, leader of the Civil Contract Party, came to power in 2018 following the Velvet Revolution — a mass anti-corruption and democratic reform protest movement that ended nearly two decades of dominance by the Republican Party of Armenia. However, relations sharply deteriorated in 2023, when Azerbaijan took full control of the long-contested territory, Nagorno-Karabakh, despite the presence of Russian peacekeepers. At the time, Armenia was still a member of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a post-Soviet security alliance that is believed to have been created as a counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). After the takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh, Pashinyan and his party felt that Russia (and the CSTO) had failed to uphold its security commitments to Armenia and froze its participation in February 2024.
Throughout Yerevan’s fraying relations with Moscow, Pashinyan tilted closer to Europe and the EU. In 2024, the EU officially launched a visa liberalization process with the country. In 2025, the ruling Civil Contract party signed the EU integration Act into law, mandating the government to pursue EU integration even though it is still in the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) phase, meaning it must still work to implement democratic and anti-corruption reform before it can become an official EU candidate.
Yet the upcoming parliamentary election could jeopardize this deepening relationship — one that matters not only to Yerevan, but increasingly to Brussels. As the EU’s other partnerships in the South Caucasus grow more complicated, with Azerbaijan continuing along an authoritarian path, and Georgia undergoing renewed democratic backsliding, Armenia has emerged as an increasingly important strategic partner for Europe in a region that serves as a critical energy corridor, especially as one of the few viable routes for trade, energy, and connectivity that can bypass Russian and Iranian controlled or influenced routes. Loss of access to the South Caucasus would narrow Europe’s options for reaching the Caspian and Central Asia, weaken efforts to diversify energy and supply chains away from Russia, while also leaving greater space for Moscow, Tehran, Ankara, and Beijing, all of which have historic ties and influence in the region, to shape its political and economic future. At a time when the EU is seeking to define its role in great-power competition amid strained relations with the United States, this dynamic is incredibly important.
Armenia’s moves toward normalization with Türkiye and Azerbaijan have also intensified European attention. If implemented, normalization — along with the prospect of the U.S.-facilitated Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) — could reopen routes that have been closed for decades and reshape regional connectivity across the South Caucasus. For years, peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan was Brussels’ primary concern regarding Yerevan, often overshadowing deeper EU interest in Armenian domestic politics, especially compared with Georgia and Azerbaijan. But as Georgia and Azerbaijan become less viable partners for Europe, the EU has thrown its support behind Pashinyan and the Civil Contract Party ahead of the upcoming elections, echoing the backing it showed Moldova’s pro-European forces during elections that were also heavily targeted by Russian interference.
That support comes as recent reporting has highlighted the scale of interference in Armenia’s upcoming election. Research from the Yerevan-based Regional Center for Democracy and Security (RCDS) has found that Moscow is deploying many of the same tools it used during Moldova’s 2024 presidential and 2025 parliamentary elections, such as disinformation campaigns, political influence operations, and efforts to exploit social divisions. Leaked Russian documents show that these tactics include the creation of misleading or fake institutional and media websites — part of the broader “Doppelganger” tactic observed across multiple countries — fake stories targeting pro-European leaders, Diaspora-influence operations, and the mobilization and payment of influencers, all tactics that have also been observed in Moldova, and are discussed at length in The Soufan Center’s latest report.
However, the RCDS researchers found that Armenia presents a distinct and potentially more vulnerable environment. Unlike Moldova, which has spent years building institutional, legal, civil-society, and media responses to Russian information manipulation, Armenia’s experience with Russian disinformation campaigns is more recent, only intensifying after Pashinyan’s transition into power, and accelerating in 2023. The Armenian public is therefore less inoculated than the Moldovan public against Russian information operations, and its institutions are less experienced and developed in countering such tactics. Armenia’s economic reliance on Russia is also still more entrenched than Moldova’s in recent years, as it is still a member of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union. Armenia’s security anxieties are also sharper after years of conflict with Azerbaijan. Its inclination towards the EU is driven more by these anxieties rather than a focused goal of complete EU integration like that in Moldova. This more complex security environment also results in a more opaque influence environment, where Azerbaijani and Turkish narratives may intersect or compete with Russian ones.
Nevertheless, Pashinyan is still a front-runner in the upcoming elections even though his party is not expected to win the two-thirds majority needed to pass constitutional reform required to officially normalize relations with Azerbaijan. Public opinion in Armenia also reflects the complicated political and economic considerations at play in this election. A poll by the International Republican Institute (IRI) found that 72 percent of Armenians either strongly or somewhat support “possible accession to the European Union.” Only 24 percent of Armenians somewhat or strongly oppose accession. However, this does not seemingly translate into a desire for a clean break with Russia. 43 percent of Armenians view Russia as their country’s most important political partner. 42 percent named the U.S., while only 29 percent named the European Union. In other words, while many Armenians are increasingly favorable toward Europe, they remain aware of the country’s economic dependence on Russia. As a result, much of the public appears to favor a careful balancing strategy: deepening ties with the EU without provoking a rupture with Moscow that could carry immediate costs for Armenia’s economy, energy security, or regional stability.
At the same time, Pashinyan remains a polarizing figure in Armenian politics. His normalization policy toward Azerbaijan and Türkiye has drawn sharp criticism from opponents who argue that he has conceded too much in the name of peace, particularly after the influx of Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh who were ethnically cleansed from the territory in 2023 after Azerbaijan’s takeover. Some Armenians also believe his government mishandled the political and humanitarian aftermath, including the resettlement and integration of displaced Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. Videos of tense exchanges with citizens, including displaced Armenians, have gone viral on social media. Indeed, the country remains split on the implementation of normalization policies, such as the TRIPP. 44 percent of respondents to the IRI poll support the implementation of the corridor, while 47 percent oppose it.
While Pashinyan was thrust into power in 2018 on a popular anti-corruption wave, his reform record has since come under scrutiny. Freedom House has noted slow progress on anti-corruption and judicial reform. It noted that successful corruption prosecutions were rare and that the resignation of six senior judicial officials at the Prime Minister’s request raised “concerns about judicial independence.” At the same time, an OCCRP/CivilNet investigation raised questions about irregular donations to the Civil Contract party, including cases where listed donors denied making contributions, and donations appeared to exceed legal limits. Among the prominent politicians listed as running in the parliamentary elections, Pashinyan was the most trusted at about 20 percent. However, 48 percent of Armenians said they did not trust any politician.
As analyst Thomas de Waal has noted, the EU must therefore tread carefully in its support for Pashinyan and his party. While our research at The Soufan Center has highlighted the importance of Western backing in countering Russian hybrid tactics and election interference across Moscow’s traditional sphere of influence, it has also underscored the need to help foster strong institutions — not only at the national level, but locally as well. Many experts argue that one of the shortcomings of U.S. and European support for Georgia was an overreliance on pro-Western political leadership without sufficient investment in durable democratic institutions, a vulnerability that has contributed to the country’s current democratic backsliding.
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Dancing at two weddings will not work: Russia restricts the import of flowers
Armenia will not be able to dance at two weddings at once. This was stated to journalists by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin.
According to him, Armenia will not be able to become a member of the European Union and retain membership in the Eurasian Economic Union.
“Of course, being in two unions at the same time is impossible by definition. As they say, Armenia will not be able to dance at two weddings at the same time,” Galuzin stressed.
He drew attention to the public statements of representatives of the Armenian leadership that they would be “happy and happy” if Armenia became a member of the EU. At the same time in Yerevan is constantly referred to the law adopted on April 4, 2025 on the beginning of the process of joining the bloc.
“However, Armenia has also signed an agreement on joining the EAEU, as well as a declaration on the further development of the EAEU for the period up to 2030 and up to 2045. These documents clearly state that Armenia, as well as other members of the EAEU, undertake to comply with the provisions of the treaty and prevent actions that would endanger it and would be capable of hindering or jeopardizing the Eurasian economic integration,” the diplomat recalled.
Meanwhile, today it became known that the Rosselkhoznadzor has been introducing temporary restrictions on the “import of floral products originating and departing from Armenia” since May 22. The restriction is valid until the completion of the inspection of greenhouses and the analysis of its results.
“The decision was made to protect phytosanitary well-being and export potential of Russia. Despite the guarantees provided by the Food Safety Inspection Body of Armenia, the identification of quarantine facilities for the EAEU continues. When importing 96.2 million pieces of floral products, 135 cases were detected. This is 77% of the total number of detections for the whole of 2025,” the agency said in a statement published on its website.
More details: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2026/05/20/dancing-at-two-weddings-will-not-work-russia-restricts-the-import-of-flowers-from-armenia
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Flowers will not appease us: Russians were advised not to fly to Armenia
Political scientist Marat Bashirov believes that the Armenian-Russian relations will deteriorate so much that it is not worth flying to Yerevan yet.
“Do not fly to Armenia yet, unless absolutely necessary. There will be an aggravation,” the expert wrote in the telegram channel.
The Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu, at a meeting of the special working group of the Security Council on May 20, said that Armenia had taken a number of actions of an unequivocally unfriendly nature.
“Armenia has taken “a number of actions of an unambiguously unfriendly nature”: “This is how we regard joining the International Criminal Court, the extradition of Russian citizens to third countries, and the deliberate deterioration of conditions for the functioning of Russian economic operators, which, by the way, provide jobs to tens of thousands of Armenian citizens. And, finally, providing the Kiev regime with the rostrum of the summit of the European Political Community in Yerevan for threats against the Russian Federation,” Shoigu said.
Moscow understands the desire of the Armenian leadership to benefit from cooperation with Russia, “but cooperation and strategic partnership is a two—way street,” he said.
Today it became known that the Rosselkhoznadzor has been introducing temporary restrictions on the “import of floral products originating and departing from Armenia” since May 22. The restriction is valid until the completion of the inspection of greenhouses and the analysis of its results.
“Armenia will not be able to appease us with its flowers,” political analyst Mikhail Vinogradov sneers in a telegram channel.
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Armenian Foreign Ministry: And you will not be able to exclude us from the EAE
The Eurasian Economic Union will not be able to exclude Armenia until it asks for it. This was announced today, May 21, by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan to the Armenian online edition aysor.am .
“The issue of Armenia’s withdrawal from the EAEU cannot be discussed until Armenia submits an appropriate application and expresses a desire, and we have not expressed such a desire, therefore, the issue of our exclusion cannot be considered,” Mirzoyan said.
According to him, Armenia will decide on issues related to cooperation with the EU and the EAEU when it deems it necessary.
“I can’t name any deadlines, such a problem is not on our agenda today,” he said.
Mirzoyan also rejected the freezing of Armenia’s membership in the EAEU.
As EADaily reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on April 1, noted that at the same time being in the EAEU and The EU is impossible. Prior to that, Pashinyan stated that withdrawal from the EAEU is not an end in itself for Armenia, but membership in the EU is an end in itself.
More details: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2026/05/21/armenian-foreign-ministry-and-you-will-not-be-able-to-exclude-us-from-the-eaeu-until-we-want-to
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Pashinyan signed up for a disastrous scenario for Armenians — the leader of th
Armenia has been dragged into a disastrous geopolitical scenario for it, which includes new losses of territories, dismantling of strategic sectors of the economy and ousting Russia and Iran from the South Caucasus. This was announced today, May 21, at an urgent press conference by the second number of the electoral list of the Prosperous Armenia party, the leader of the Mother Armenia party Andranik Tevanyan, VERELQ reports.
He stressed that the Turkish-Azerbaijani tandem and Western globalist circles put forward quite specific demands to Armenia, and the acting prime minister has already agreed to fulfill them. According to Tevanyan, one of the key requirements is the provision of the so-called “Zangezur Corridor”. In addition, he stated that there are plans to settle Azerbaijanis in Armenia and transfer at least three territories of sovereign Armenia located at strategically important road junctions to Azerbaijan.
The politician also stated that within the framework of this scenario, the closure of the Armenian nuclear power plant is envisaged, as well as the destruction of the country’s mining industry under the pretext of environmental programs. According to Tevanyan, such initiatives are presented as measures to protect the environment, but in fact they are aimed at weakening the Armenian economy.
Separately, he pointed to the requirements for the withdrawal of the Russian 102nd military base from Gyumri, Armenia’s withdrawal from the CSTO and the EAEU.
Tevanyan stressed that Armenia’s economic ties with the EAEU and especially with Russia are of critical importance for the country. According to him, the share of Armenian-Russian trade relations exceeds 30%, and the rupture of these ties will lead to the economic collapse of Armenia.
According to the politician, the ultimate goal of what is happening is the “Ukrainization” of Armenia so that the “Turkish world” gets a dominant position in the South Caucasus. He believes that within the framework of the geopolitical game, attempts are being made to oust Russia and Iran is from the region.
“It was under this monstrous plan that Nikol Pashinyan signed up,” Tevanyan said.
More details:
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Pushing out of the EAEU and seizing the gas market — what Baku wants from Arme
And what, generally speaking, Azerbaijan needs from Armenia after Karabakh, the author of the Azerbaijani telegram channel “Ugur Mammadov” wondered.
“The Zangezur corridor, of course. We can assume that it is already ours, unless relations with the United States deteriorate (I do not consider their appearance in the topic of Zangezur a blessing for Azerbaijan),” the author of the channel writes.
In addition, as the Azerbaijani commentator believes, Armenia will have Baku is in your pocket when and if you manage to implement what is implemented in Georgia, where the Azerbaijani state-owned company SOCAR bought a network of gas pipelines.
“Azerbaijani gas should be supplied to Armenians and distributed inside the country through Azerbaijani pipes. The interests of Azerbaijan and Russia will inevitably collide here. Russia, with its Gazprom Armenia enterprise and preferential gas supplies. To fight with the Russian Federation is not out of our hands. Therefore, Nikol Pashinyan is obliged to do the menial work. To push Armenia out of the EAEU with its almost built-up common gas market. To quarrel with Russia. And take away the gas company from the Russian Federation, nationalize it. Then Azerbaijan will come. Otherwise, why do we need Pashinyan?” — Ugur Mammadov concluded.
More details: https://eadaily.com/en/news/2026/05/21/pushing-out-of-the-eaeu-and-seizing-the-gas-market-what-baku-wants-from-armenia
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Pope offers extended public greeting to Aram I, Armenian Apostolic Church lead
May 20, 2026
At the beginning of his general audience today in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV offered an extended public greeting to Aram I, head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia.
The Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, based in Lebanon, is one of the two chief jurisdictions in the Armenian Apostolic Church (CNEWA profile). The Armenian Apostolic Church is among the Oriental Orthodox churches that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (451).
“Brothers and sisters, I am very happy to welcome His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia of the Armenian Apostolic Church, together with the distinguished delegation accompanying him,” Pope Leo said. “This fraternal visit represents an important opportunity to strengthen the bonds of unity that already exist between us, as we move towards full communion between our Churches.”
Pope Leo added:
Your Holiness, in these days when we prepare for Pentecost, I invoke the grace of the Holy Spirit upon your pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and I invite all those present to pray fervently to the Lord that your visit and meetings may constitute a further step on the path towards full unity. Let us also pray for peace in Lebanon and the Middle East, once again torn apart by violence and war.
Your Holiness, I wish to express my particular gratitude for your constant personal commitment to ecumenism, especially to the international theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
Welcome, Your Holiness, dear bishops and dear friends! Together, let us invoke the intercession of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, Saint Gregory of Nareg, Saint Nerses the Gracious and, above all, the Virgin Mother of God, that they may enlighten our path towards the fullness of that unity we all desire.
The greeting took place two days after Pope Leo received the Catholicos.
In his address to Pope Leo on May 18, Aram I said that ecumenism is crucial in the face of secularism. Pope Leo, in turn, praised Aram I for his ecumenical zeal. Following the two addresses, Pope Leo and the Catholicos prayed together in the Chapel of Urban VIII in the Apostolic Palace (link to booklet).
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Russia slaps temporary ban on import of Armenian flowers
Russia slaps temporary ban on import of Armenian flowers
BILYONARYO.COM
May 20 (Reuters) – Russia is imposing a temporary ban on the import of flowers from Armenia, citing a large number of cases requiring quarantine, Russia’s agricultural safety agency said on Wednesday.
Rosselkhoznadzor issued a statement saying the ban would come into effect on Friday.
It said despite assurances provided by Armenia’s Food Safety Inspection body, cases requiring quarantine were being detected.
With the import of 96.2 million units of floral products, 135 cases were detected, Rosselkhoznadzor said. “This constitutes 77% of the total number of detections for the entire year 2025.”
According to figures quoted by Armenian media, the country is among the top three suppliers of cut flowers to Russia and accounts for a little more than 7% of the market.
Russia last week accused Armenia of providing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy with “a platform for anti-Russian remarks” at a meeting in Yerevan of the European Political Community.
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Pope Leo Welcomes Armenian Church Leader, Prays for Unity and Peace
Pope Leo Welcomes Armenian Church Leader, Prays for Unity and Peace
May 21, 2026 : Pope Leo XIV renewed his greetings to His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church—See of Cilicia, during the Wednesday General Audience.
Catholicos Aram I joined Pope Leo on the stage in St. Peter’s Square, just two days after the two Church leaders had met and prayed together on Monday, May 18, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace.
The Pope prayed that the Holy Spirit may bless the Armenian Catholicos’ pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul.
Pope Leo then urged everyone to pray for peace in Lebanon and the Middle East, torn apart by violence and war. He also prayed for unity between the two Churches.
The Catholicosate of Cilicia includes Lebanon, Syria, Cyprus, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf region, Iran, Greece, and the Americas. Since 1930, the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia has been headquartered in Antelias, Lebanon.
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