Politics is politics, but we have deepening economic ties with Russia. Persian: "Sputnik Armenia"

Economically, Armenia and Russia have mutually deepening relations, no matter how many accusations are made by different officials of Armenia and Russia.Economist Suren Parsyan expressed this point of view in a conversation with Sputnik Armenia, addressing the question of what economic problems the change of the RA government's political course towards the West might face our country in relations with Russia and within the EAEU framework.

The economist reminded that, for example, according to the data of 4 months of this year, 60 percent of our foreign trade fell to the Russian Federation, while in 2023 it was only 35-40 percent.

"Politics is politics, but economically we have quite good relations, especially within the EAEU framework. RA and RF have become economically important countries for each other and are able to solve many vital problems," Parsyan noted.

For example, against the backdrop of Western sanctions, Armenia is helping Russia to solve the problem of acquiring various equipment and techniques and delivering them to Russia. It was also the reason that the RA equipment re-export company topped the list of 1000 large taxpayers in the first quarter of this year.

In addition, during the last 5 months, the Russian Federation managed to sell about 4.5 billion dollars worth of gold through the Republic of Armenia.

Parsyan considers it normal that Armenia is not pursuing a pronounced pro-Russian policy at the moment, otherwise the Western sanctions against Armenia would not have been delayed. As a result, there would be no opportunities for export, import, transfers with Russia.

"The RA government shows a pro-Western policy, but in practice it is in mutually close ties with the Russian Federation financially and economically," Parsyan emphasized.

When pro-Western statements are activated by the RA authorities, according to him, naturally, warnings are sounded from the Russian Federation about the increase in the price of energy carriers and problems related to exports.

"Let's not forget that RA imports 80 percent of its energy carriers from Russia. When the disaster in the northern parts of Armenia happened, the Russian "South Caucasus Railway" was able to restore the railway works in a very short time, about half a month instead of 2-3 months. As a result, the import of energy carriers to RA continued at the same pace. The "South Caucasian Railway" could have delayed, but it didn't," said the economist.

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