Since May 22, Russia has limited the import of flowers from Armenia, according to the statement of “Rosselkhoznadzor”, the purpose of the decision is to ensure the protection of a healthy phytosanitary environment.
“Despite the guarantees provided by the RA Ministry of Education, quarantine plants for the Ministry of Agriculture continue to be found. During the importation of 96.2 million flowers and plants, 135 such cases were recorded, which is 77 percent of the total cases detected in the entire year 2025,” noted “Rosselkhoznadzor”.

Today 168.am He was in Armavir region, he talked Florist Artak Tovmasyan from Zvartnots who has been facing the same problem for a year and cannot export the flowers he produces to Russia or sell them in the domestic market.

“This problem is not new, exactly one year ago this problem arose when “Rosselkhoznadzor” presented demands that Armenian flowers are not imported to Russia, but are also brought from other countries and exported to Russia. I don’t know how true this is, but the villagers suffer as a result of all this.

In other words, a year ago they should have come and inspected the greenhouses, given a license, taken the addresses from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, I didn’t give mine, I said: you will come to me at the very end. Whoever gave an address, they did not go to anyone, they only went to the big greenhouse owners. But the flower cultivated by the peasant is in no way inferior to the flowers imported from Ecuador and Europe.

The reason for all this is political, if they didn’t come, they didn’t check the quality of these flowers, they didn’t tell me that there is a flower, but they tell me: don’t export, what is this? I exported for 12 years, there was no problem, but now there is a problem, isn’t this political? When the question was raised here: EATM or EU, “Rosselkhoznadzor” told me: “Very well, open your greenhouses, we are coming to check, to see if you are co-responsible for our market”, Artak Tovmasyan mentioned.

As for Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan’s statement that “regularly they receive information that certain internal forces of RA are inciting the Armenian producer to face a problem”, Artak Tovmasyan noted that we can convey to Gevorg Papoyan that we have found these “internal forces”.

“What is the “inner strength”? Tell me, we have found it. It is me with my flowers. I am a flower producer and have been exporting for 12 years. It is not in my favor, but I must say that for 12 years, when I sent my flower to Russia, I was convinced that there might be a prohibited pest on my flower, but people turned a blind eye. And when they decided here that flowers should not enter the Russian market, then this problem arose, what “internal forces” are we talking about? Let Gevorg Papoyan come, let us go around together, let him see what problems we have.

We cannot export our flowers to the European market, because there the requirements are stricter.

In the past, greenhouse owners were considered rich people in rural communities because people made money, but now they have become more vulnerable. We haven’t been able to export flowers for so long, whoever had the money made an investment, but they can’t sell what they produce. Because of this problem, I no longer have a good credit history, I have pawned the last gold, after 1-2 months I will not be able to pay the interest on the gold. This is called bankruptcy, a person becomes bankrupt of his mind, it also happens when we have Gevorgpapoyans and SATM. They want to do an election campaign, let them go to the flower market in the evening, they will hear a lot of new things about them. The season of apricots and grapes is approaching, what will the villagers do? It’s been 3 days, this problem exists, no one says anything, they only say: “internal forces are inciting”, yes, the internal force is me, I am the instigator,” added our interlocutor.

According to his observation, the government should not help the greenhouse owners, it should not interfere with its behavior and foreign policy.

In 2025, the florist suffered a loss of 40 million drams, and this year and in this period he has already suffered a loss of 15 million drams, invested 50 million on the greenhouse, and 13 million on flowers.

“In my greenhouse, 8 workers worked for 8 thousand drams a day, but now I have no workers, 8 people are already unemployed in my greenhouse alone, pesticide sellers are also suffering, starting with the producer and seller of this thread, they are suffering because we do not export flowers.

We will rebel, many greenhouse owners allow you to take pictures of their greenhouse, but avoid talking. In general, give Gevorg Papoyan a bus in Yerevan, let him drive, he is a person far removed from economics, he does not know what is happening in his country. Now that Gevorg Papoyan says to develop intensive horticulture, to demolish this greenhouse, to establish an apricot orchard, and “Rosselkhoznadzor” discovers such a problem again, what am I going to do?

I have supported Nikol Pashinyan since 2008, we wanted changes. We rejected Serzh so that we could live better, but we rejected him and now we live worse.

I earned all the money to establish this greenhouse in Russia, I brought it here to live and work in my country. Now we are in a worse condition and neglected than under all other leaders,” the flower grower said.

The situation is the same in other villages of Armavir region, where florists simply take the flowers out of the greenhouse in the form of garbage and throw them away. In Aghavnatun village, thousands of flowers were filled in front of almost all the greenhouses, some of them were taken to the landfill by trucks.

Details in the video of 168.am

—