The EU is observing an unnatural increase in trade flows in Armenia and is conducting appropriate discussions with the authorities of this country, Peter Stano, Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, told Report.
“We are closely monitoring trade flows of sanctioned goods from the EU to third countries and from third countries to Russia. In the context of Armenia, we have indeed observed some anomalous trade flows. We are looking at the issue and we are in dialogue with the Armenian authorities.
The EU imposed set of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia for its illegal aggression of Ukraine, violation of the UN Charter and for committing atrocities amounting to war crimes, he noted.
“The EU has called on all countries to align with these sanctions, adopt similar national measures or at least not to allow any circumvention of these sanctions. In a previous sanctions package the EU introduced a possibility to impose sanctions also on persons or entities allowing the circumvention of sanctions.”
A US Bureau of Industry and Security document said that Armenia imported 515 percent more chips and processors from the US and 212 percent more from the EU in 2022 than a year earlier. During the same period, Armenia exported 97 percent of the same products to Russia.