The alcoholic beverage, distilled from white grapes and known as cognac in the former Soviet Union, has long been one of Armenia’s major export items. Russia has remained its principal buyer since the Soviet collapse.
Russia’s official TASS news agency reported on Tuesday that the group called Anti-Kontrafakt (Anti-Counterfeit) collected 200 samples of brandy produced by Armenia’s leading liquor firms and sent them to a Russian state laboratory for examination. It said the laboratory tests found that 90 percent of them do not meet Russian safety and quality standards. Also, “non-grape spirits” were found in almost half of the samples, making them “counterfeit alcoholic products,” according to Anti-Kontrafakt.
Citing these findings, the group appealed to relevant Russian authorities to impose “additional controls on alcoholic products imported from the Republic of Armenia” and “limit the circulation of products that do not meet quality standards.” The authorities have not publicly reacted to the appeal so far.
The TASS report picked up by many other Russian media outlets came amid heightened tensions between the two nations. It was construed by some Armenians commentators as another Russian warning about the heavy economic cost of the Armenian government’s continuing drift to the West.
Papoyan declined to comment on possible political motives behind the Anti-Kontrafakt allegations when he spoke to journalists. He stressed that Russian government bodies have not yet contacted Yerevan regarding the allegations.
“As of now, we do not have any problems with exports and sales [of Armenian brandy.] Nor have we received any alerts [from Armenian exporters,]” the minister said, adding that the Armenian government will therefore not comment on the TASS report.
Armenia - Farmers deliver grapes to a brandy distillery in Ararat province, 9Sep2013.
Russia absorbs an estimated 80 percent of Armenian brandy output. Armenian brandy exports to Russia reportedly totaled $180 million in 2021 and may well have increased since then.
Brandy firms are the main buyers of grapes grown by tens of thousands of Armenian farmers. The largest of them, the Yerevan Brandy Company, is a subsidiary of the French group Pernod Ricard, a worldwide producer of wines and spirits.
Russia is also the main export market for Armenian agricultural products and prepared foodstuffs. Just over a month ago, its Rosselkhoznadzor agricultural watchdog banned fresh fruits and vegetables imported by 16 Armenian entities, saying that they exceed the maximum residue levels of pesticides allowed in the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Armenia’s Food Safety Inspection Body scrambled to address the Russian concerns, pledging to step up laboratory checks of agricultural products and to investigate the Armenian firms and individual entrepreneurs blacklisted by Moscow. Rosselkhoznadzor representatives are due to visit the South Caucasus country in the coming days.
Government data shows that Armenian exports of fruits and vegetables totaled $182.5 million last year. The bulk of them went to Russia.