Russia has twice sacked the chief of its customs checkpoint on the border with Georgia this year following corruption alleged by Armenian traders and truck drivers, the head of Armenia’s largest business association said on Thursday.
Arsen Ghazarian of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said corruption and bureaucratic red tape on the Russian side of the Upper Lars border crossing, heavily used by Armenia, remain a problem. “Corruption cases at the Lars checkpoint have decreased but not been completely eliminated,” he added.
According to Ghazarian, who also owns a major Armenian cargo company, the Russian customs service has twice replaced its top officers there since January in order to lower “corruption risks.”
The mountainous crossing processes a large part of Armenia’s trade with Russia which was worth almost $1.4 billion last year. Russia solidified its status as Armenia’s number one trading partner in 2017.
Some drivers of Armenian trucks delivering agricultural products to the Russian market claimed last week that Russian customs officers at Upper Lars are extorting illegal extra payments from them. Ghazarian said he has also heard such stories from Armenian entrepreneurs. But he complained that they rarely report them to relevant authorities in Armenia or Russia for fear of having more problems. “We complain but do not report,” the business leader told journalists.
Karine Minasian, Armenia’s representative to the Moscow-based executive body of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, said that she has never received such formal complaints. “As of now, I have not received letters from the Armenian business community,” she told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).
Armenia’s Minister for Economic Development and Investments Suren Karayan downplayed the scale of the problem. He argued that Armenian exports to Russia soared by over 50 percent in 2016 and are on course to rise further this year.
Karayan attributed the sharp rise to Armenia’s controversial accession in 2015 to the EEU which was supposed to simplify customs procedures in its duty-free trade with Russia and other ex-Soviet republics making up the trade bloc.