Armenia's largest food exporter, Spayka, confirmed that Russian authorities have in recent days intercepted more than 100 of its trucks carrying fresh fruit and vegetables.
Karen Baghdasarian, an executive at Spayka, told RFE/RL's Armenian Service that the company has not received an official explanation for the measure, which has disrupted operations. "Within a day or two, they stopped all our trucks in Russian cities and said, 'The trucks won't move; if you have cargo in them, you can transfer the cargo to other vehicles and take it to its recipients,'" said Baghdasarian.
"We have not been officially informed what the problem is," he added, noting that the effective seizures are also "paralyzing" the company's further shipments and purchases.
Spayka, founded in 2001, is Armenia's leading producer and exporter of agricultural products grown in its own greenhouses or purchased from local farmers. The company employs around 2,500 people.
Russian government bodies, including the agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor, have not issued public statements on the matter, and the Armenian government has not commented.
Last week, Armenia's State Revenue Committee advised exporters not to trade with wholesale buyers accused by Russian authorities of tax evasion. The statement did not name Spayka or any other company. Baghdasarian said that Spayka mainly sells to Russian supermarket chains and is not engaged in fraudulent practices. He added that the company has never previously faced such punitive action.
Russia remains Armenia's main export destination for agricultural products and alcoholic beverages. In recent years, Moscow has occasionally imposed temporary bans on certain Armenian exports, officially citing sanitary reasons. Armenian observers have often linked these measures to political tensions over Yerevan's closer ties with the West.
Earlier this year, Russian officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, warned that Armenia's stated ambition to join the European Union would have economic consequences. They stressed that EU membership would not be compatible with Armenia's continued participation in the Eurasian Economic Union, which provides tariff-free access to the Russian market. Overchuk visited Yerevan late last month.
Source: Azatutyun