Category: News

Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has imposed new restrictions on imports from Armenia, this time limiting imports of Armenian dairy products into Russia, according to a statement issued by the agency.

“From July 14 to 21, Rosselkhoznadzor specialists inspected Armenian dairy processing plants that had previously been approved on the basis of guarantees provided by the Armenian veterinary service and were supplying products to Russia. The inspections confirmed similar violations to those identified during inspections carried out in 2023–2024,” the statement said.

According to the agency, “the ongoing investigation established that milk from infected animals was being used to manufacture products supplied to Russia.”

“To date, Armenia has not established a system to verify the origin and safety of milk or other dairy raw materials used in production. In view of the violations identified, Rosselkhoznadzor has taken measures to prevent the import into Russia of particularly dangerous infectious diseases,” the statement added.

In recent months, Russia has restricted or completely banned imports of a number of Armenian products, citing various alleged violations as the reason for its decisions.

At the same time, Armenia has been working to diversify its export markets toward the European Union and other destinations. The European Union has stated that Russia is exerting economic pressure on Armenia and has expressed its readiness to support the country.

The 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee is being held in Busan, the Republic of Korea, from July 19 to 29, with Armenia participating as a committee member for the first time.

Armenia’s delegation includes Harutyun Vanyan, head of the Department for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments at the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, along with five national experts. The delegation is led by Aram Hakobyan, Armenia’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO.

According to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Armenia’s nomination entitled “Areni-1 Cave: Prehistoric Life and Winemaking in the Arpa River Valley” has been approved for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

The nomination was prepared under a memorandum of cooperation previously signed between the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, the Areni-1 Cave Research Foundation, and the Armenian Enotourism Council NGO, with financial support provided by the Armenian Enotourism Council. The ministry described the initiative as another successful example of public-private partnership.

The newly listed nomination, along with all of Armenia’s previously registered nominations, is available on UNESCO’s official website.

With this addition, Armenia has expanded the number of its properties on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List from the four sites registered in 1995 to eight, following consistent efforts over the past three years.

The Central Bank of Armenia informs “Armenpress” that today, 24 July, USD exchange rate down by 0.08 drams to 365.87 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.86 drams to 416.43 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.0228 drams to 4.6763 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 1.72 drams to 487.41 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 1307 drams to 47580 drams. Silver price down by 8.15 drams to 690.02 drams.

Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate has rejected Rosselkhoznadzor’s claim that inspections carried out in Armenia found that dairy products exported to Russia were produced using milk from diseased animals.

On July 24, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) announced restrictions on imports of dairy products from Armenia. The Russian agency said the decision was based on the alleged finding that inspections at several Armenian dairy producers had revealed the use of milk from diseased animals in the production of dairy products.

Responding to the statement, the Food Safety Inspectorate said it regularly carries out inspections at all dairy production facilities in Armenia under its annual inspection programme and on the basis of consumer complaints.

“If non-compliance is identified during inspections, the Inspectorate suspends the production activities of the relevant facility until the violations are remedied, while hazardous batches are withdrawn from circulation and destroyed.

Although the Russian side has not yet provided the results of the joint inspections conducted by specialists from Rosselkhoznadzor and the Food Safety Inspectorate at four Armenian dairy enterprises from July 14 to 21 this year, we can state that the inspections found no evidence that those facilities had used milk from diseased animals or raw materials imported from other countries.

According to the submitted documentation, the raw materials used in production had undergone laboratory testing and were confirmed to be safe.

The Inspectorate remains committed to ensuring that the entire food production chain complies with the requirements established by food safety legislation,” the statement said.

Armenian Ambassador to Uruguay Mariam Gevorgyan met with Hermenegildo Coene Velázquez, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Paraguay, according to a statement issued by the Armenian Embassy in Uruguay.

The statement said the sides discussed prospects for developing bilateral cooperation in the field of education.

Ambassador Gevorgyan presented Armenia’s education system, highlighting the country’s achievements in the sector and the opportunities it offers.

Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court has revoked the pretrial detention of Strong Armenia party lawmaker Davit Ghazinyan. The court also granted the defence’s motion not to impose any alternative preventive measure, including bail. Ghazinyan was released from the courtroom.

Earlier, the public prosecutor had requested that Ghazinyan’s detention be replaced with 1 billion drams (about $2.6 million) in bail, a travel ban and administrative supervision through electronic monitoring.

The court also ruled that precedents set by the Administrative Court and the Constitutional Court apply in Ghazinyan’s case, meaning that parliamentary immunity is applicable to him.

On July 21, 2026, the prosecutor referred the criminal case against Ghazinyan, a parliamentary candidate from the Strong Armenia alliance, to the Anti-Corruption Court with an approved indictment.

According to the Anti-Corruption Committee, the investigation found that Ghazinyan, acting in prior agreement with A.M., who allegedly coordinated the work of the alliance’s campaign office in Yerevan, supporter A.S., and other individuals, had prepared to distribute bribes to voters in exchange for votes for the Strong Armenia alliance in the parliamentary elections held on June 7, 2026.

Investigators allege that, to carry out the plan, Ghazinyan handed 1.4 million drams to A.S. to be used for vote-buying. However, the alleged scheme was not completed due to disagreements among the participants over how the money would be distributed to voters, circumstances which investigators said were beyond Ghazinyan’s control. The money was later transferred to A.M.

Public criminal prosecutions have also been initiated against A.M., A.S., L.S., S.H., G.H., H.G. and P.J. on charges related to vote-buying, preparation to commit vote-buying and accepting election bribes.

The case materials, together with the approved indictment, were referred to the Anti-Corruption Court on July 21, 2026.

Earlier, Ghazinyan had been placed in pretrial detention for two months.

He was arrested on June 17 on charges of preparing to commit vote-buying. Before his arrest, Armenia’s Central Election Commission had granted the Prosecutor General’s Office’s motions seeking consent to initiate criminal proceedings against him and to deprive him of his liberty.