Kocharyan warns Armenia-Russia rift would be 'disastrous'

Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan warned that a rupture in relations with Moscow would have devastating consequences for Armenia, underscoring the country’s heavy dependence on Russia as its primary export destination.

In an interview with RBC on Monday, Kocharyan, the prime ministerial candidate of the Hayastan alliance, underscored that 98 percent of Armenia’s agricultural exports are bound for Russia, while access to the European Union remains heavily restricted by trade barriers. 

“For Armenia, this would simply be catastrophic,” he said, adding that the government has failed to identify alternative outlets for local producers should ties with Moscow sour.

Kocharyan noted that Russia, by contrast, would scarcely register the impact of a breakdown. Armenia accounts for just 0.7 percent of Russia’s foreign trade, compared with 0.3 percent before Western sanctions were imposed in 2022. “In Russia, nobody would even notice. The imbalance is too great to play with,” he remarked.

He accused the current Armenian leadership of pursuing foreign policy at odds with the nation’s economic interests. “Today, the Armenian government is implementing foreign policy detrimental to its economic interests. I think this is the only case in international practice,” Kocharyan stated.