Russia Prevents Armenian Agricultural Trucks from Crossing Verin Larsi: Media

According to Pashtinfo, Russia is not allowing trucks carrying Armenian agricultural products to pass through the Verin Larsi checkpoint. The Russian side cites violations of phytosanitary standards as the reason.

Agricultural specialist Harutyun Mnatsakanyan stated in an interview with the media that the issue primarily arose today. “It is evident that all of this has a political context; it is difficult to connect it with anything else at this time. The fact is that many exporters are facing a serious problem today, a very serious one,” he said.

When asked how the Russian side justifies the ban and whether goods have been exported previously under the same documents, Mnatsakanyan noted that the issue is not related to paperwork at all, as even dog food has been denied export and sent back. “They returned apples, strawberries, fish products, dog food, in other words, everything that is currently possible to export. Generally, agricultural products can be rejected in any country for any reason. For example, they might say there is a certain type of insect in flowers that is under quarantine, goodbye; they might find malachite in fish products and say good luck; they find that the pesticides in apples exceed allowed levels and say good luck,” the agricultural specialist added.