Citizens of Armenia and other countries with a visa-free regime with Russia 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 has first and foremost affected hundreds of Armenian truck drivers shipping goods to and from Russia, Armenia’s number one trading partner. They typically drive to the vast country on a virtually monthly basis. Some of them have already been deported from Russia and/or banned from entering the country for breaching the 90-day limit.
More than a hundred self-employed truckers rallied outside the prime minister’s office in Yerevan for the second time in three days on Thursday to demand that the government negotiate with the Russian side.
“Ninety days is very little,” one of them told reporters. “[The time limit] runs out within seven to eight months.”
“A round trip to Moscow should take six days, but we take 20 days to go there and come back because the roads are often closed,” he said, alluding to frequent traffic disruptions and long lines formed at Russia’s Upper Lars border crossing with Georgia.
“We are saying openly that unless the problem is resolved we will block all roads,” warned another driver.
“Believe me, we are dealing with this issue at the highest level in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU),” Papoyan told the protesters after a weekly cabinet meeting. “I have great hope that the problem will be resolved.”
“I also know that 90 days is not a workable option in our case because you guys can be stuck at Upper Lars for 90 days a year,” he said.
The minister refused to give details of the ongoing talks, saying that publicity could have a negative impact on them.
In recent months, Russian officials and Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk in particular have renewed their warnings about severe economic consequences of the Armenian government’s declared desire to eventually join the European Union. Following an August 20 visit to Yerevan, Overchuk said those would include not only an end to Armenia’s tariff-free access to the Russian market but also an entry ban on Armenian trucks.
Pashinian said, meanwhile, that Yerevan will eventually have to choose between the EU and the EEU, a Russian-led trade bloc. He went on to promise to step up “efforts aimed at Armenia's accession to the European Union.”
According to official statistics, Russia accounted for over 35 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in the first half of this year, compared with the EU’s 12 percent share.