The Rosselkhoznadzor agricultural watchdog said laboratory tests conducted by it have found an alarming increase in harmful “quarantined organisms” contained by them.
“In addition, there have been repeated cases of detection of quarantined objects in other types of plants, which indicates an ineffective system of control over exported products on the part of Armenia,” it said in a statement.
Rosselkhoznadzor said it has therefore asked Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate to take “comprehensive measures and strengthen control over supplied goods.” Failure to do that would lead Rosselkhoznadzor to “temporarily” ban Armenian flower imports on June 16, added the statement.
The Armenian government agency did not immediately comment on the warning.
Russian government data shows that Armenia’s became last year Russia’s second largest supplier of cut flowers, with imports totaling $32 million. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, the physical volume of Armenian flower exports to Russia surged by almost 50 percent to 52 million flowers in the first five months of this year.
Armenia’s largest agribusiness company, Spayka, appears to account for most of those exports. The export-oriented company employing about 2,500 people grows tulips and other flowers at its sprawling greenhouses in the Ararat province south of Yerevan. The Armenian Economy Ministry reported in early February that Spayka has produced 37 million tulips so far this year, sharply up from 17 million in the whole of 2024.
Russia is also the principal market for other agricultural products as well as alcoholic beverages exported by Armenia. In the last few years, Moscow has occasionally and briefly banned some of those exports on similar sanitary grounds widely construed by Armenian commentators as Russian retaliation against the Armenian government’s continuing drift to the West.
Despite a certain easing of Russian-Armenian tensions observed in recent months, Russian officials have repeatedly warned Yerevan of severe economic consequences of its continued efforts to join the European Union. They have said that the South Caucasus nation risks losing its tariff-free access to the vast Russian market.
Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 7.7 percent share.