Armenia may lose preferences in the price of Russian gas, the Foreign Ministry reported

Yerevan’s revision of the status of allied relations with Moscow could lead to Armenia’s loss of preferences in the price of Russian gas, Mikhail Kalugin, director of the fourth department of the CIS countries of the Russian Foreign Ministry, said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

“Armenia and I have a comprehensive legal framework that secures the privileged, allied status of bilateral relations. If the Armenian authorities, as part of the “diversification” of foreign policy, want to revise this status, it is their right. But then they will also have to give up the preferences that Moscow provides only to its allies. One example of such preferences is the price of gas,” Kalugin said.

The diplomat emphasized that the Russian side is not against Armenia purchasing gas from other countries, because such an option is fixed in the Russian-Armenian “gas” agreement of 2013.

“However, we need to understand what the alternative is to Russian supplies. I’ll give some numbers. Up to 85% of the gas consumed by the republic comes to Armenia from Russia - about 2.2-2.7 billion cubic meters per year. Supplies come without export duties, at a fixed price of 177.5 US dollars per thousand cubic meters. Armenia also receives petroleum products from Russia without duties,” shared the director of the department.

On July 30, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov told reporters that Russia supplies gas to Armenia at a price of $177.5 per thousand cubic meters, while current “European” gas prices exceed $600 per thousand cubic meters. According to him, this cannot be called anything other than subsidies, since this amount is about a billion dollars a year.

In May, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the transfer of a letter to Yerevan through the Russian embassy, ​​which states that if the process of Armenia’s accession to the European Union continues, the Russian side will unilaterally suspend or cancel the agreement on cooperation in the supply of natural gas, petroleum products and rough natural diamonds.