Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan stated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accurately cited Armenia’s official trade figures during the recent CIS summit in Dushanbe.
Responding via Facebook, Papoyan affirmed that Pashinyan’s statements reflected data from Armenia’s Statistical Committee, referring specifically to trade turnover for January–August 2024–2025.
“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan presented the official figures published by Armenia’s Statistical Committee, and therefore they are absolutely accurate,” Papoyan wrote, attaching a screenshot of the source.
At the summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted the economic benefits of Eurasian Economic Union membership, citing trade growth between Russia and Armenia. Putin asked Pashinyan for Armenia’s current trade volume with Russia.
“This year it has already reached 4 billion [dollars],” said Pashinyan.
Putin disagreed, insisting the figure was higher: “No, it’s more.”
They also presented differing figures for the previous year’s trade. Pashinyan said it was about $9 billion, while Putin countered: “It was more last year too, and it will be even more this year. That’s obvious.”
No agreement was reached during the exchange.
According to Armenia’s Statistical Committee, the country’s total foreign trade from January to June 2025 dropped by 45% compared to the same period in 2024, totaling $9.67 billion. Of this, around $3.5 billion was with EAEU countries, $88.4 million with other CIS states, $1.1 billion with the EU, and approximately $4.8 billion with other nations.
Trade with EAEU countries fell by 53.7%, while it increased by 20.4% with other CIS states and by 9.5% with the EU. Trade with other countries declined by 44.6%.
