YEREVAN. – Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan’s recent proposal to switch to the Russian ruble in Armenia-Russia trade relations is due to a ruble surplus in Armenia.

Opposition Armenian National Congress member, economist Vahagn Khachatryan, stated the above-said at a press conference on Friday.

“In 2013, we [i.e. Armenia] received 1.5 billion [rubles (approx. US$22,818,210) of] remittances [from Russian], but we have not carried out that much exports [to], or imports from Russia,” said the economist. “Today, it is convenient for us to switch to making ruble payments because we don’t have a ruble problem; we have a ruble surplus.”

Khachatryan noted, however, that PM Abrahamyan’s aforementioned proposal was unexpected, since such announcements within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU)—which comprises Armenia, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and most recently, Kyrgyzstan—require respective discussions.

“But there have been no [such] discussions, [and] Russia has made no [relevant] feedback, or proposal,” added the economist. “But Russia will not do that because it does not benefit Russia; it’s just a talk.”