A piece of information is being disseminated in social networks that Russia closed the border for Armenian trucks because of “Armenia’s flirtation with Europe and NATO.” FactCheck has verified information from the author of this publication multiple times in the past.

See Facebook publication:

In order to verify the information, FactCheck reached out to the hotline of the Revenue Service of Georgia. It was confirmed that there are indeed queues at the Georgia-Russia border. However, it was noted that everybody, and not only trucks with Armenian state license plates, faces difficulties at the crossing.

In particular, a representative of the Revenue Service of Georgia stated: “Generally, traffic has increased. The road may be closed because of weather conditions; however, there are no hindrance with respect to Armenian vehicles.”

FactCheck also spoke with a representative of the Embassy of Armenia to Georgia who stated that “it is only a technical and not political problem” at the Kazbegi border check-point. It was added that such delays usually last only for two or three days.

Of note is that queues are not uncommon at the Kazbegi border check-point and they may last for days. In April as well, there was a technical shortcoming in the Russian customs check-point database which resulted in truck drivers having to wait for two days. The situation has partially recovered from 12 April 2023.

Therefore, information disseminated in social networks that Russia closed border for Armenian trucks is not true.

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