What is being talked about is not a new phenomenon, we have periodically had such issues throughout history. For example, last year, if you remember, there were certain problems in connection with various products. Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia, Eduard Hakobyan, told this to reporters at the National Assembly today, regarding the report that after last week’s meeting in the Kremlin between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the economic entities that are in some way associated with the incumbent Armenian authorities will have serious problems in Russia and will not be able to export many products to the country.

“Especially when passing the [Upper] Lars [checkpoint on the border between Russia and Georgia]. there are phytosanitary issues. For example, specific products must meet certain requirements, these requirements are periodically tightened, periodically weakened. That is, it is a natural process that we have, and our appeal to our taxpayers and businessmen is to follow these requirements.

We recorded two main problems last year: there are episodes when these product quantities do not meet these requirements, there are episodes when the Russian partners raise the question of why the economic entity to which the given product is supplied is not properly indicated. These two groups of problems are usually on the agenda, and they are manageable. In such situations, we have discussions with our Russian partners, especially on the customs side,” said the SRC Chairman.

And to the question whether he rules out that political motives are the basis for creating such obstacles by Russia for Armenian businessmen and to what extent this will affect Armenia’s  economy, Hakobyan replied: “With your permission, I will not go into political motives. But it is clear that there are some abrupt changes or significant changes in the world, and they have certain different motives from the policy pursued by the given country. Now, if the Russian regulatory authorities receive a certain instruction or decide themselves that they need to tighten things up from time to time, that's why I urged our taxpayers and businessmen to follow the rules, because following those rules allows the state to have their backs in any situation.

When there is a situation where the businessman himself is to blame for not following those rules, it is very difficult to negotiate with our partners at our level and try to find solutions to those issues. And what will happen will depend on the extent of the tightening, especially in terms of control.

Last year's problems, which were quite large in their scope, if we compare them with previous years, had their negative effect on certain of our export amount [to Russia], especially brandy.

But you noticed that the economy [of Armenia] did not suffer much, its impact on [the country’s] economic dynamics was more limited, because over time we were able to find solutions with both Georgia and Russia.

"Now that's the regime: to follow the rules, try to stand with [Armenian] business owners in non-objective situations, and find solutions with our Russian partners."