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.
Armenian truck drivers need many days for each of their frequent journeys to the vast country. At least 200 of them have reportedly been deported from Russia and/or banned from entering the country for having already breached the 90-day limit.
After staging a series of small-scale demonstrations in Yerevan to demand that the Armenian government negotiate a deal with the Russians, hundreds of truckers used their vehicles to disrupt for several hours on Tuesday cargo traffic through Armenia’s main border crossings with Georgia. They agreed to reopen the roads leading to the three crossings after being told that the executive body of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) will discuss the issue at a meeting on Friday. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian attended the meeting via video link.
“During the discussion, the Russian side informed that it understands the urgency of the issue and is working towards a solution,” read an Armenian government statement. “It was also noted that a bill on making relevant amendments to the current law is currently being circulated in relevant bodies of the Russian Federation.”
The statement gave no other details. It thus remained unclear when Moscow could ease the new entry rules for Armenian truckers. Not surprisingly, they were not satisfied with the official readout of the meeting.
“The government promised to solve the issue on October 24 and asked us to reopen the roads,” Razmik Gvargizian, a driver representing his protesting colleagues, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “It's already the end of the day. We haven't received any answers. So our actions will continue.”
“We are going to block this time not the interstate borders but all roads leading to the city [of Yerevan,]” he said. “We are going to paralyze the country.”
“We won't wait for all of Armenia's heavy truck drivers to be deported [from Russia,]” added Gvargizian. “Today, six more drivers were deported.”
Russian government officials have still not made any public statements on the issue.
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 Russia’s sole border crossing with Georgia.
