From brandy to blossoms, Moscow has embargoed a sweeping array of Armenian produce as relations between the ex-allies go sour
From May onwards, Russia gradually pulled the plug on imports of Armenian fruits, vegetables, mineral water, fish, dairy and alcoholic beverages. The widening embargo left caravans of Russia-bound trucks stranded on the winding passes across the Caucasus mountains, turning perishable harvests into a costly waste.
While Russia claims it’s motivated by food safety concerns, the embargo comes as a shot across the bow to Armenia, which had been building closer ties with the European Union (much to Russia’s chagrin).
In May, Yerevan hosted a high-profile EU-Armenia summit capped off by a landmark cooperation agreement. Memorably, French President Emanuel Macron took the microphone to warble “La Boheme” – a chanson by Armenian-French crooner Charles Aznavour – and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan backed him up on drums.
Moscow grinded its teeth watching these scenes. Bent on maintaining political and economic dominance over its post-Soviet neighbourhood, Russia viewed the summit as an intrusion into its geopolitical turf.
A month prior, Russia’s Vladimir Putin openly warned Armenian leader Nikol Pashinyan to choose between the European Union and the Eurasian Union – a single market that Russia shares with Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
“I will put it straight: being in a customs union with both in the European Union and the Eurasian Union is impossible,” Putin told Pashinyan in the Kremlin.
While conceding that Armenia can’t have it both ways, Pashinyan countered that Armenia is far from the stage when that choice must be made. “If we reach the point when choice has to be made, we – the citizens of Armenia – will make that choice,” Pashinyan said.
Russia is Armenia’s second-biggest export market after the UAE, and the largest buyer of Armenian agricultural produce. Armenia sells both locally grown roses and imported tulips to Russia – with tulip bulbs arriving from the Netherlands to reach maturity in local greenhouses before continuing their journey north.
Armenia’s agriculture sector is expected to bear the brunt of the import ban, according to the Russian daily Kommersant. Russia absorbs an estimated 90 per cent of all fruits and vegetables grown in Armenia, alongside roughly 80 per cent of the 20 to 25 million liters of brandy produced annually in the country.
Trade embargo is a classic move in Moscow’s foreign-policy playbook, often applied to neighbours who develop a wandering eye geopolitically. From Georgian and Moldovan wines to Lithuanian dairy, from Ukrainian candy to Turkish tangerines, Russia has a long history of weaponiszing trade to extract obedience from its neighbors.
Until now, Armenia had escaped such treatment. Long viewed as Russia’s only foothold south of the Caucasus Mountains, Armenia was the lone regional state to join the Eurasian Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – Moscow’s respective answers to the EU and NATO.
But relations cratered ever since Pashinyan rode a 2018 popular uprising into office. There has been no love lost between Putin and Pashinyan, and the Kremlin’s boss conveyed his dislike for the revolutionary Armenian leader directly and through his mouthpieces in state-controlled media.
The final fracture came in 2023, during Azerbaijan‘’s swift offensive to retake the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Despite hosting Russian troops and sharing a mutual defense pact via the CSTO, Armenia watched helplessly as Moscow stood by and did nothing while Azerbaijani forces seized control.
Freezing its membership in the defense club, Armenia accelerated efforts to diversify its geopolitical and trade partnerships, sending the chill in relations with Moscow to new depths.
Pashinyan has called on Moscow to lift the food and drink embargo but showed zero sign of backing down from its diversification strategy, vowing to seek alternative markets in earnest.
Putin made sure to remind Pashinyan during their April showdown that Russia still holds plenty of leverage – chiefly, the heavily discounted natural gas keeping Armenia’s economy warm.
Summarized by contributing editor Giorgi Lomsadze from reporting by news services like Kommersant, Meduza, ArmenPress, and others.
Giorgi’s take: Russia’s trade war on Armenia is a high-stakes geopolitical warning shot that extends far beyond regional economics. It illustrates how the Kremlin weaponises trade to punish former Soviet neighbours for seeking Western partnerships, offering a textbook case of modern economic coercion. The standoff highlights the immense pressure facing frontline states like Armenia as they attempt to break free from Moscow’s orbit and pivot toward Europe, risking severe economic fallout in the process.