“The Armenian side, no matter how much it realizes that we are dealing with a certain political influence, has no moral right to speak about politics,” said Babken Pipoyan, president of the NGO “Informed and Protected Consumer,” in an interview with Panorama.am, responding to the statement by Rosselkhoznadzor regarding the restrictions on the import of Armenian dairy products and its justifications.
He is confident that now, under the guise of “patriotism,” they will try to link the issue to politics, while if there were no political element, the Russian side would not come to exercise control in Armenia, would trust the Armenian control, and would make decisions based on that.
“From the message, it becomes clear that the Russian side does not even trust the Armenian control. When Rosselkhoznadzor comes to Armenia, it does not only check our producer, but also our controller and notes that we do not have a management system in the entire food safety chain,” Pipoyan said, noting that for years the issue of the absence of this system has been discussed, as well as the fact that a person who cannot distinguish a pig's snout from its rear has no right to speak about food safety.
He noted whether there has been a case when the Armenian side responded to the violations recorded by the Russian side, disagreeing with those violations.
“There has not been, what are we talking about? That is, the chain of violations that is being discussed, after that it is morally wrong to talk about politics. People came, the institutional side was preserved, recorded, left, did anyone object?” Pipoyan said, noting that he does not discuss what Russian specialists have witnessed here.
It should be noted that the Russian service cites the use of milk from infected animals as the justification for the restriction on the import of dairy products. According to Pipoyan, this refers to brucellosis, for which there is no formal control in our country.
“The situation in the sector is worsening day by day and will worsen, I repeat, I have the impression that we are dealing not with a food safety inspection body, but with a repair company,” he said.
Pipoyan assessed that by talking about “sovereignty,” the state has brought about a situation where today another state plans our entire economy.
“If there were real sovereignty, we would have an agricultural policy and would know that it is impossible to produce products exclusively for one market, because the moment that market wants, we will not be able to realize the entire volume. Shaping an economy by someone else's order is not sovereignty,” he emphasized, adding that he would never want Armenia to be adopted by any country.
“Europe will never adopt, Europe will never allow infected animal milk to approach it, let alone enter its territory,” he noted.
Details - in the recording.
