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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/06/russia-putin-armenia-election>
"The bottling line at the Abovyan cognac factory in Armenia is running at full
tilt.
Women in white coats and hairnets work the conveyor with practised speed –
labelling, stacking, loading pallets – racing to fill a truck.
The spirit’s destination is Russia. But it probably won’t make it there.
Last month, Moscow announced a ban on imports from Abovyan, alongside two other
leading producers of Armenian cognac – the name under which Armenian brandy is
sold in Russia.
The official reason for the move was sanitary concerns, but it was widely
viewed as political pressure aimed at discouraging the country’s westward tilt
ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday.
It was the latest in a long line of recent trade restrictions – affecting
everything from flowers and fish to fruit and its famed brandy – that the
Kremlin has imposed on a nation of 3 million people that sends roughly 40% of
its exports to nearby Russia.
“We just hope this all blows over,” said Samvel Goroyan, Abovyan’s director, in
his office on the outskirts of the capital, Yerevan. “All our cognac is sold in
Russia, 7m bottles a year,” he shrugged. “We have nowhere else to go.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
