Pashinyan Denies Reports on Rejecting Russian Grain

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, during a briefing with journalists in the National Assembly, denied the information disseminated by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) that Armenia intends to reject Russian grain in favor of Ukrainian grain.

Earlier, the Russian SVR had issued a statement alleging that Armenia, driven by political considerations, wishes to “break away” from Moscow and support Ukraine by purchasing a portion of the grain from Kyiv.

The Service also noted that Ukrainian grain is one and a half times more expensive than Russian grain, and that Yerevan had offered Brussels to compensate for the difference. The SVR’s statement also mentioned that this step could contribute to “creating distrust between Moscow and Yerevan.”

Despite such statements from Moscow, we were unable to find similar information in Ukrainian media outlets or on the websites of government agencies. Only from publications made in 2021 do we see that Ukraine had expressed readiness to export wheat and other agricultural products to Armenia. One Ukrainian website also wrote that Russia is Armenia’s main supplier of wheat.

It should be noted that about 90 percent of Armenia’s grain is imported from Russia, while wheat self-sufficiency stands at 23.2 percent. It should be recalled that after a break of about 35 years, 1000 tons of Russian wheat reached Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan on November 6, and Kazakh wheat also arrived on the night of November 7-8.

According to the data from the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, 132 railcars of Russian wheat will be delivered to Armenia by rail through the territories of Azerbaijan and Georgia by the end of January 2026.

Satenik Avetisyan