Citizens of Armenia and other countries who can travel to Russia without a visa were allowed until this year to stay there for a total of up to 180 days per year. Legal amendments that took effect on January 1 reduced that period to 90 days.
The change is leaving without work many Armenian truck drivers shipping goods to and from Russia, Armenia’s number one trading partner, via Georgia. They need many days for each of their frequent journeys to the vast country. A growing number of them is reportedly deported from Russia and/or banned from entering the country for having already breached the 90-day limit.
Some of the mostly self-employed drivers have staged a series of small-scale demonstrations outside the prime minister’s office in Yerevan this month to demand that the government negotiate with the Russian side. Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan told them last week that the government is doing its best to get Moscow to waive the new requirement. The protesters were clearly not satisfied with Papoyan’s assurances.
Commercial vehicles belonging to them and other truckers began massing at the three Armenian-Georgian border crossings late on Monday, effectively disrupting their operations. An RFE/RL correspondent counted the next morning about 250 trucks lined up on a highway outside the biggest of those crossings, Bagratashen. Their number visibly grew in the following hours.
The protesters blocked all shipments of goods to and from Armenia, allowing only individual cars to cross the border. They said they will continue the blockade until they hear clear answers from the government.
The truckers agreed to reopen the roads in the evening. But they warned that they will block the crossings completely if their demands are not met before the end of this week.
“The further course of action depends solely on their approach and behavior towards Armenian drivers, carriers, importers and exporters,” said one of them.
Meanwhile, in Yerevan, Papoyan said that the government raised the matter with the Russians months ago and that they realized that the 90-day ceiling would create an “insoluble problem” for Armenia.
“We believe they promised to resolve the issue,” the minister told the Armenian parliament.
Papoyan did not say when that solution could be announced. He announced that the executive body of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will discuss the issue at a meeting scheduled for this Friday.
Russia accounted for over 35 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in the first half of this year. The bulk of Russian-Armenian trade is carried out through Georgia.
