The reaction in Armenia to the deterioration of economic relations with Russia is monitored by the telegram channel “Sector of Mountains”. The government is already introducing measures to support exporters, but there are signs of discontent among local producers.

“The first case is tomato producers. On July 20, farmers blocked the Yerevan —Yeraskh highway due to the fact that processing plants do not buy crops. One of the participants of the action reported that 60 tons of tomatoes remained in the field. The problem has systemic reasons: in the first half of 2025, Armenia exported 6.3 thousand tons of tomatoes, of which 99.9% went to Russia. After the introduction of Russian restrictions, the authorities announced the first shipments of vegetables sent to the EU and other countries, but specific destinations were not named. At the same time, only 200 tons of tomatoes were exported in June. The second case is fish farmers. On July 21, they went to the government building and announced problems with the sale of about 15 thousand tons of live fish and fish products. Some of the goods have already been returned from Russia. In 2025, Armenia exported fish for about $ 79.8 million, of which $78.4 million accounted for Russia. Formally, on July 16, the government approved the requirements for entering the EU market, but the fish farmers themselves claim that it is impossible to quickly replace the Russian market,”the report says.

These are the first signals that the policy of export diversification does not give a systemic result, the authors of the channel note.

“It’s too early to talk about its failure: the protests of manufacturers remain local and have not acquired a mass character. However, the lack of convincing results of a large-scale reorientation of exports can increase discontent. So far, mostly single deliveries and purchases within the framework of support measures are publicly visible, in which the diaspora plays a significant role. This helps individual producers, but does not replace a stable market with understandable volumes, prices, routes and payment terms,” said Sector Mountains.