The Russian government’s Rosselkhoznadzor agriculture watchdog signaled such a measure last week, saying that Armenian dairy companies use Iranian raw materials banned in Russia. It said that Russia risks importing “low-quality and unsafe products” also because of a lack of “proper oversight” by relevant Armenian authorities.
A spokeswoman Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate (FSI) insisted that the Iranian raw materials are safe for consumption.
The ban took effect on Wednesday despite what the FSI described as continuing negotiations between the two sides. The government agency gave no details.
Khachatur Poghosian, the head of the Armenian Union of Dairy Producers, said that the Russian customs service began enforcing the ban even before its official entry into force. Armenian trucks laden with butter and other dairy items were turned away from a Russian-Georgian border checkpoint earlier this week, he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Rosselkhoznadzor issued its first warning to the authorities in Yerevan four days Armenia’s Constitutional Court gave the green light for parliamentary ratification of the International Criminal Court’s founding treaty. The ruling in turn came one week after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crimes allegedly committed by Russia in Ukraine.
Moscow warned on March 27 that recognition of The Hague tribunal’s jurisdiction would have “extremely negative” consequences for Russian-Armenian relations. Those relations have deteriorated in recent months due to what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s administration sees as a lack of Russian support for Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan.
Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian told reporters last week that he does not think Rosselkhoznadzor’s actions are politically motivated.
Suren Parsian, an economic analyst, suggested that there might be both political and sanitary reasons for them. He said the Russian watchdog last year examined Iranian milk imported by Armenian manufacturers and concluded that it does not meet safety standards set by the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.
“The thing is that the Russian side repeatedly sent complains and the Armenian government simply ignored them,” said Parsian.
The likely economic cost of the Russian ban is not yet clear. Government data shows that Armenia exported 9,500 tons of dairy products (mostly butter) to Russia in 2021 and 2022.
According to Parsian, increased use of Iranian milk has turned Armenia into a net exporter of butter. Local butter exporters earned $18 million during the two-year period.
Dairy products make up a small share of overall Armenian exports to Russia which nearly tripled, to $2.4 billion, last year as a consequence of Western economic sanctions against Moscow.