The fall of trade turnover with Russia has a political subtext. This is what former MP, economist Vardan Bostanjyan said during a May 2 press conference.

“Exports and imports have reduced in the first quarter of 2019. In early 2018, there was 29% trade turnover with the Russian Federation, but now there is only 11% trade turnover,” the economist said.

According to him, even though Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan constantly stresses the strengthening of Russian-Armenian ties, the Russian Federation doesn’t trust the Republic of Armenia as a partner very much.

Bostanjyan stressed that there is tension in terms of the natural gas price and said he didn’t get the impression that the Prime Ministers of Russia and Armenia succeeded in reaching an agreement on the natural gas price during the recent session of the Eurasian Economic Union. “I think this is bad for Armenia. There can be negative changes any second, meaning Russia can be guided by international prices for natural gas that are higher than $165 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters,” he added.