Meeting with Pashinian on Thursday, Mishustin said it soared by 42 percent despite the Western economic sanctions against Russia.
“These are record indicators in our mutual trade,” Mishustin said during the talks held in Kyrgyzstan on the sidelines of a meeting of prime ministers of Eurasian Economic Union member states.
Pashinian also hailed the “good news” in his opening remarks at the talks. “The figures mentioned by you are a very concrete result of our joint work,” he said.
Armenian government data shows an even sharper rise in bilateral trade: 50 percent. According to it, Russia accounted for almost one-third of Armenia’s first-half foreign trade, solidifying its status as the South Caucasus country’s number one trading partner.
Armenia was initially expected to be hit hard by the barrage of sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and other Western powers following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian-Armenian trade fell in March but recovered in the following months as the Russian economy proved more resilient than expected.
“Together with our Armenian partners, we are making prompt decisions aimed at protecting our trade and economic cooperation in the face of, among other things, illegal sanctions against the Russian Federation,” Mishustin told Pashinian.
The Russian premier said that Moscow wants to “accelerate work” on more Russian investments projects in Armenia. He also announced that one of his deputies, Alexei Overchuk, will lead a “business mission of Russian companies” in Armenia in September.
“We are also doing a lot of work to expand the use of national currencies in bilateral trade. I am sure that this will contribute to the growth of our trade turnover and, what is very important, the diversification of its structure,” added Mishustin.
Yerevan announced in April this year that Armenia has technically started paying for Russian natural gas in Russian rubles, rather than U.S. dollars. The switch was in tune with Moscow’s broader efforts to minimize the impact of the Western sanctions.