EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos spoke with Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan following Moscow’s decisions to practically ban key imports from Armenia vital for the South Caucasus nation’s economy.
According to the Armenian Foreign Ministry, they discussed, among other things, “mechanisms” for boosting EU-Armenia trade. Kos said, for her part, that she “reiterated the EU’s solidarity with Armenia in the face of growing economic coercion by Russia.”
“We are looking into ways to increase EU support for Armenia in the short term,” she wrote on X. “We will also accelerate our work bolstering trade and energy links to and within the South Caucasus, supporting Armenia's economic links with its immediate neighborhood.”
The EU’s two top officials, Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, did not pledge additional economic aid to Armenia when they met with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian on May 5 the day after a European Political Community summit in Yerevan. Moscow reacted furiously to those gatherings, accusing Pashinian’s government of siding with the EU against Armenia’s traditional ally.
Participants of the 8th European Political Community summit pose for a family photo in Yerevan, May 4, 2026.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on May 9 that Yerevan should choose “as soon as possible” between continuing to seek EU membership or remaining part of an ex-Soviet trade bloc that guarantees Armenian exporters’ tariff-free access to the Russian market. Russian authorities began banning the import of Armenian agricultural products, mineral water and alcohol about two weeks later.
Russia accounted for 35.8 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 11.7 percent share. The Russian embargo could hit many Armenian farmers, agribusiness firms and alcohol producers particularly hard.
Pashinian sought to reassure them on Tuesday as he campaigned for the June 7 parliamentary elections. He said, in particular, that his government has already found new export markets for them in Europe. He did not elaborate.
Former Robert Kocharian, who leads one of the three main opposition groups running in the elections, shrugged off Pashinian’s assurances.
“European farmers don’t let anyone enter their market at all,” he said. “What Russia is saying is that it is not ready to finance Armenia's path to the European Union.”
Some Armenian entrepreneurs, whose trucks carrying agricultural produce have been turned away from the Russian border in recent days, were also skeptical. As one of them told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service: “Will Spain let us sell tomatoes in Europe? Will Bulgaria let us sell green pepper there? Or will France let us sell cognac there?”