Despite its widely publicized course of reorientation to the West, Armenia is still in the pool of Russia's economic and political interests. And the country's economic growth is based solely on Russian re-exports. Armenia has "traded" more than $500 million in diamonds alone in favor of the Kremlin. This was written by Focus , reported by UNN.
Since the beginning of this year, the EU has adopted the 13th and 14th packages of anti-Russian sanctions. In total, they include 310 individuals and legal entities from eight countries that are "actively involved in circumventing EU sanctions." However, they still do not include Putin's main logistics hub, which has been helping him to circumvent sanctions for more than two years. Pro-Western Armenia is allowed to violate the restrictive regime, despite the European Commission's loud motto of "relentlessly pursuing those who help Russia circumvent sanctions.
According to the UN Comtrade Database, in 2023, Armenia imported 3.5 million carats of rough and polished diamonds worth approximately $561 million. At the same time, 48% of the stones came from Russia. In the same year, 2023, a record number of diamonds were exported from Armenia - approximately 4.5 million carats. In this regard, in July, the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime OCCRP concluded: "Foreign trade data indicate that the exports are mainly of rough stones, not diamonds cut by Armenian craftsmen. In other words, Armenia has become a re-exporter, a transit country." Even Armenian economists recognize the fact of re-export. "If Armenia exported 4.5 million carats of diamonds in 2023, which is 30 times more than the amount produced in the republic itself, this is already a blatant fact of re-export, which is gaining momentum," economist Agassi Tavadyan summarized in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, Armenia's exports to Russia increased by an unprecedented 187%. At the time, Armenian Finance Minister Vage Hovhannisyan admitted that "a significant part of it is re-export." The same year, there was a stunning jump in GDP growth, the first in the history of the Republic of Armenia - by almost 15%. The British The Telegraph called this economic growth absurd: "This makes it (Armenia) a candidate for 3rd place in the list of the world's fastest growing economies... With a population of barely 3 million people and a GDP per capita of less than one tenth of the average Briton, these are impossible figures. But they are real... Sanctions simply do not work as they should. The Kremlin has been able to quickly and carefully circumvent almost all the barriers put in its way.
The above facts suggest that Armenia's "reorientation" to the West is nothing more than a decoration. Hiding behind it, Yerevan continues to serve as an important economic partner of Moscow. If the West really wants the war in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, the US and EU should stop ignoring Yerevan's role in Moscow's circumvention of sanctions.