Russians may be called upon to refrain from visiting Armenia, if they continue to arrest Russian citizens there based on requests from third countries, the Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Matvienko, said in a telephone conversation with the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ruben Rubinain. The telephone conversation with Matvienko took place on August 6.

This is a very important warning, because it actually means that the tourism sector may come under attack. Russians are the main driving force of tourism in Armenia.

According to the data of 2025, 40.7 percent of the tourists who visited Armenia were from Russia. In absolute terms, almost a million. Now imagine what the decline will be in the tourist market of Armenia, if the Russian segment, which reaches almost 1 million people, leaves it.

Moreover, I should mention that the next two major destinations are Georgia and Iran, which are several times inferior to the Russian one.

Of course, if the political adventure continues, then in the case of Russian tourist resources, as well as agricultural products, they will start feeding the public with the fact that they will come from the EU. In fact, this will be as much a mockery of common sense as it is with agricultural products. For comparison, France provided the largest volume of tourism from EU countries to Armenia in 2025, and do you know how much? A little more than 35 thousand people.

Again, when this is talked about, some fools will start talking about “Rsastrk”. Actually, my “slavery” is the economy of Armenia, the people living with that economy, the system that is the basis of any viable state. An economy that is a chain of harmonious combination of different sectors, not for example only a stubborn focus on the “sanctification” of the IT sector.

Analyst Hakob Badalyan

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