Ararat Mardoyan: Car imports to Russia are declining because of ruble depreciation rather than Georgian bans

Ararat Mardoyan, the founder of the Auto Degustator company, commented to Alpha News on the tightening of Georgia’s ban on car export from Armenia to Russia.

According to him, neither Georgia nor any other country can influence car import to Russia in any way.

“It seems to everyone that due to the Georgian ban, the flow has fallen, but in fact it has fallen much earlier, during the period of increasing the recycling fee and the euro appreciation,” Mardoyan said.

He also recalled that Armenia has only two ways of exporting cars to other countries: through Georgia or through Iran.

According to Mardoyan, there are virtually no large companies involved in car export in Armenia.

“Last year, they were mainly partner companies, but due to certain difficulties, almost all of them gradually ceased their activities, as there were no orders, primarily caused by price increases,” he added.