Pashinian called the assertion “absolute nonsense” as he spoke to reporters at the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Earlier the same day, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) issued a statement alleging that, while partly replacing Russian wheat imports, Armenia “expects the European Union to reimburse the difference in price,” given that Ukrainian wheat is “about 50 percent more expensive.”
Armenia depends on Russia for the bulk of its wheat imports. Various estimates suggest that more than 90 percent of the wheat consumed in Armenia comes from Russia.
The SVR statement comes days after Armenia received the first shipments of Russian and Kazakh wheat via a rail transit route through Azerbaijan for the first time in nearly 35 years.
Both Russia and Kazakhstan have said they plan to use the new route, made possible due to improved relations between Baku and Yerevan, to ship more wheat and other goods to Armenia through Azerbaijan.
The new transit corridor is viewed in both Yerevan and Baku as both a symbol and a practical manifestation of improving connectivity and trust following the August trilateral summit in Washington involving Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the United States.
The Washington agreements, among other things, commit Yerevan to ensuring “unimpeded connectivity” between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave, with “reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity” for Armenia.
Armenia expect that its rapprochement with Azerbaijan — after more than three decades of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh resulting in two major wars — will also lead to broader regional unblocking, including the reopening of the land border with Turkey.