The state agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor cited the kind of sanitary grounds on which it recently banned imports of Armenian fruits, vegetables, beverages as well as trout and sturgeon bred at the other fish farms operating in Armenia. The import bans came amid Moscow’s growing warnings about the economic cost of the Armenian government’s deepening ties with the European Union.

Fish farming in the landlocked country has grown exponentially in the last 10-15 years on the back of soaring fish exports almost fully absorbed by Russia. The latter reportedly imported about $80 million worth of Armenian fish last year, sharply up from $3.6 million in 2016.

The two blacklisted fish producers, MF Export and Invest Plus, were inspected by Rosselkhoznadzor officials and allowed to continue working in the Russian market just last month. They halted their exports regardless, according to a spokeswoman for the Armenian government’s Food Safety Inspectorate.

The managing director of MF Export said the company is now scrambling to find new markets in the European Union and the United Arab Emirates. He declined to comment on the success of those efforts.

A representative of another big fish farm, Art Fish, was skeptical about prospects for Armenian fish exports to EU countries, saying that finding buyers there and meeting the EU’s food safety standards will take a lot of time. He told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the company oriented towards the Russian market is now facing an uncertain future.

“We are not able to export the products at the moment but continue to incur expenses,” he said. “The problem is that we cannot fail to feed the fish, we cannot fail to give them oxygen, … and we pay a lot of money for feed and electricity. Also, the fish are growing, and it’s not possible to keep them indefinitely. So we are in an uncertain situation.”

The Art Fish executive, who did not want to be identified, expressed hope that the government will shore up the sector by enabling companies to delay their tax payments and debt servicing. Economy Minister Gevorg Papikian on Friday promised government assistance to them but did not elaborate.

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