Armenian dairy is banned in Russia as strained relations worsen.

Due to safety concerns, Russia has halted imports of dairy products from Armenia, raising tensions between the two countries. The Armenian dairy industry is allegedly employing milk products from nearby Iran that are prohibited in Russia due to safety concerns, according to claims made by Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s agriculture authority, and Armenian dairy output does not fulfill Russian safety standards. The Armenian food safety inspectorate maintains that there is no reason for alarm, but the public perceived Rosselkhoznadzor’s decision to have political undertones.

The sudden intolerance for Armenian lactose comes as Yerevan approaches acceptance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s state commissioner for children’s rights and Russian President Vladimir Putin for their roles in the country’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children. Although Armenia has ratified the Rome Statute since 1998, it wasn’t until March 24 that the Constitutional Court of Armenia granted the pact official recognition and opened the door for parliamentary approval.

Since the Second Karabakh War with Azerbaijan in 2020, Armenia’s relations with Moscow have soured, and it has rejected to assume the rotating role of General Secretary of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. The incapacity of Russian peacekeeping forces in Nagorno-Karabakh to break Azerbaijan’s blockade of ethnic Armenians within the region has also drawn increased criticism.

Some Armenian farmers will suffer because of the dairy prohibition, but it is primarily symbolic. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Armenian exports to that country have nearly tripled.