Pashinyan dismisses reports of Ukrainian grain deliveries to Armenia as 'nonsense'

Supply of Ukrainian grain to Armenia

“There can be no such thing. It’s absolute nonsense,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in response to reports that Armenia had stopped buying Russian grain and was now purchasing Ukrainian wheat.

The information — alleging that “for political reasons, Armenians want to distance themselves from Moscow and help Ukraine by buying part of their grain supplies from the ‘independent’ country” — was circulated by Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR).

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also commented on the matter, saying that “SVR reports are never unfounded.” At the same time, he added that Moscow continues to “develop cooperation” with Yerevan both bilaterally and within integration frameworks.

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“EU is offered a ‘three-in-one deal’” — SVR statement

Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) claimed that Armenia allegedly intends to purchase part of its required grain from Ukraine.

“However, there’s a snag — Ukrainian grain is more than twice as expensive. But, as they stress in Yerevan, it’s a matter of principle: friendship is friendship, but money is separate. Brussels is being asked to cover the difference in cost. […] The appeal lies in the fact that the EU is being offered a ‘three-in-one deal’: grain for Armenia, support for Kyiv, and the provocation of mistrust between Moscow and Yerevan,” the statement said.

The SVR press release also raised the question of where the extra funds would come from, immediately suggesting an answer:

“It would be good to pay for Ukrainian grain with the stolen Russian assets. But they haven’t managed to seize them yet. Belgium — the holder of this ‘thieves’ kitty’ — is resisting. […] The EU thinks: fine, we could pay and forget, as in a well-known New Testament story. But Yerevan will have to pay on a permanent basis. That’s the kiss of Yerevan.”

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Peskov: “We continue to develop our cooperation with Yerevan”

Although Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that “SVR reports are never unfounded,” he did not provide any evidence confirming Yerevan’s alleged intention to buy Ukrainian grain.

In an interview with RIA Novosti, Peskov said that Russia continues to develop its cooperation with Armenia and even assured:

“We will continue doing so. You know that we have frequent contacts at the highest level. There are many issues on the agenda of our bilateral relations. We hope that this cooperation will continue.”

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Armenia diversifies its economic ties

At the end of October, it was announced that Azerbaijan had lifted all restrictions on the transit of goods to Armenia.

It was initially reported that the first transit cargo would be Kazakh wheat. However, during the night of 6 November, a shipment of 1,000 tonnes from Russia arrived in Armenia. Notably, Armenia imports about 90% of its grain from Russia.

“It turned out that Azerbaijan is also allowing trains from Russia to use the same route. Now, Russian exporters are submitting applications to send certain categories of goods to Armenia along this corridor,” explained Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Another shipment — 1,000 tonnes of Kazakh wheat — arrived on 8 November. Officials described it as the first batch, while Yerevan expressed hope for a continuous process. Astana, in turn, confirmed its readiness to supply 15–20 thousand tonnes of grain per month.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the shipment in Armenia sparked heated debate. The controversy arose after the Kazakh wheat supplier stated:

“The pilot batch consists of fourth-class food-grade wheat, which can be used both for general-purpose flour production and for feed mixtures.”

In response to accusations that the imported wheat was not of top quality, Deputy Economy Minister Edgar Zakaryan said the type of wheat had not been specified in advance. He assured that Armenia also needs fourth-class wheat and expressed surprise over the uproar surrounding the Kazakh supplies:

“We should only be glad that the roads are opening. If transport routes are diversifying, that’s a good thing. Today we received feed-grade wheat; tomorrow higher-quality wheat will arrive. Life itself will show.”

The deputy minister also told journalists that, unlike the Kazakh shipment, the wheat imported from Russia was of high quality.

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Supply of Ukrainian grain to Armenia