According to the Armenian government’s State Revenue Committee (SRC), almost 1.27 million handsets worth around $400 million were shipped to Russian retailers, up by 38 percent from the same period of 2025. They accounted for nearly one-third of Armenia’s overall exports to Russia that dropped by over 4 percent year on year due to Russian bans on Armenian agricultural products.
The lucrative reexports are the reason why a company importing smartphones manufactured by Western companies became Armenia’s number one corporate taxpayer last year. The SRC collected 38.2 billion drams ($105 million) in various taxes from the company, Mobile Center, in January-June 2026, a year-on-year increase of about 16 percent.
Mobile Center is an official distributor of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers, notably Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi. Like many other Armenian firms and individual businesspeople, it has cashed in on Western bans on exports of various goods to Russia imposed after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Their reexports have since been a key driver of economic growth in Armenia.
This is now a rare bright spot in Russian-Armenian commercial ties increasingly affected by Russian trade restrictions imposed on Armenia in May and June. Citing sanitary grounds, Moscow blocked the import of Armenian fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, mineral water, fish and some alcoholic as it pressed Yerevan to quickly choose between continuing to seek membership of the European Union and remaining part of a Russian-led trade bloc. Armenian exports fell significantly in June and July.
Russian officials have warned of other punitive measures such as a sharp rise in the price of Russian natural gas supplied to the South Caucasus country and curbs on Russian tourists visiting it. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian has ruled out any reversal of his government’s European integration policy.
Russia is still Armenia’s number one trading partner and export market, having accounted for 27.5 percent of its first-half foreign trade. Armenian exports to Russia and the EU stood at $1.23 billion and $516 million respectively, according to government data.