Armenia’s Eurointegration Hinders Cooperation with EAEU, Russia Analyzing Risks — Russian Deputy Prime Minister

ST. PETERSBURG– Armenia’s rapprochement with European Union (EU) member-states is negatively affecting its cooperation with the European Economic Union (EAEU), Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), adding that Moscow is closely monitoring the situation and assessing related risks. TASS news agency reports.

Russia cannot fail to see changes taking place in Armenia “from the point of view of regulations that are currently being implemented there,” and it is analyzing those processes, he said. “We cannot but pay attention and think about those issues. We are thinking about this, and we are assessing the risks,” Overchuk noted.

“So far, we see a decline in trade with EAEU, see a decline in trade with Russia, but this year we have also seen a solid growth in trade with the European Union coupled with falling exports from Armenia to the European Union, which means this growth [in trade] does not create added value,” he explained.

The decree providing for supply to the territory of the republic of “food products with documents on assessment of conformity collected in the Republic of Armenia in the order prescribed by the national legislation on the basis of test protocols issued by laboratories of the countries of the European Union,” is one of obvious examples, the official added. “We believe that such an approach does not fully comply with the provisions of the Eurasian Economic Union treaty. And, accordingly, this means that agriculture products that do not meet our requirements, are beginning to be supplied to the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union,” he stressed.