Overchuk again complained that the Armenian government introduced recently EU standards for the certification of imported food products. He said he is planning to formally notify his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigorian that they “contradict the norms of the Eurasian Economic Union,” a Russian-led trade bloc comprising five ex-Soviet states, including Armenia.
“Accordingly, we will consider the application of appropriate measures,” the TASS news agency quoted Overchuk as telling reporters.
He did not say what those measures could be. He indicated only that they would be taken through the EEU’s executive body, the Eurasian Economic Commission.
The Russian vice-premier already stepped up last week Moscow’s warnings about economic consequences of Yerevan’s plans to seek to eventually join the EU.
Earlier this year, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government pushed through the parliament a bill declaring the “start of a process of Armenia's accession to the European Union.” Moscow has warned that the South Caucasus nation risks losing its tariff-free access to Russia’s vast market and having to pay much more for Russian natural gas and foodstuffs.
Armenian leaders have stressed that the law does not amount to an EU membership bid and that they have no plans yet to leave the EEU. Still, Pashinian said earlier this month that his country will eventually have to choose between the EU and the Russian-led bloc.
Russia accounted for over 41 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade last year, compared with the EU’s 7.7 percent share.