Citizens of Armenia and other countries with a visa-free regime with Russia were until recently allowed to stay there for a total of up to 180 days per year. Legal amendments enacted by the Russian government last year reduced that period to 90 days.
The change has first and foremost affected truck drivers shipping agricultural produce and other goods to Russia, Armenia’s number one export market. Many of them drive to the vast country on a virtually monthly basis and have to spend several days there on each of those trips.
Some told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Monday that they have already been blacklisted by Russian authorities for breaching the 90-day limit. The Russian police do not need court permission to deport and impose three-year entry bans on them.
“Our government didn’t inform us [about the change,]” said one of them. “None of us knew about that when we went [to Russia.] Because of not knowing, we are now losing our jobs.”
The man spoke by phone from the southern Russian city of Vladikavkaz where he claimed to have seen “20 to 30” other blacklisted Armenian drivers at a local immigration center.
“Ninety percent of truck drivers have probably used up that limit and been added to the [blacklist] registry,” said another trucker.
“We don’t know if we will be able to drive to Russia again,” complained one of his colleagues. “It’s not that we go there for migrant work. We go in and get out. They should do something good for people like us.”
The Armenian government did not immediately comment on the problem. It was therefore not clear whether it has raised the matter with Moscow. According to the government’s Migration Service, some 1,100 Armenians were deported from Russia last year.
According to Armenian government data, Russia accounted for 37 percent of Armenia’s exports worth $5 billion in January-August 2025. The Russian market is especially important for Armenian exporters of agricultural produce, prepared foodstuffs and alcoholic beverages.
In late August and early September, Russian law-enforcement authorities intercepted over 100 heavy trucks belonging to Armenia’s leading food-exporting company, Spayka, for still unclear reasons. The crackdown disrupted the company’s operations vital for thousands of Armenian farmers. It coincided with Moscow’s renewed warnings about severe economic consequences of the Armenian government’s desire to eventually join the European Union. The EU absorbed less than 1 percent of Armenian exports in January-August.