ArmInfo. In the first seven months of 2026, the volume of foreign trade freight traffic between Russia and Armenia via rail increased by 63.4%, reaching 86,000 tons. This was announced during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, which was also attended by Russian Transport Minister Andrei Nikitin.
According to the Russian Transport Ministry, over the first six months of 2026, air passenger traffic totaled over 885,000 people. These figures confirm the active development of air travel and growing interest in travel between the two countries. Bilateral and transit road transport between the countries is carried out on a permit-free basis within the EAEU. Furthermore, a preliminary exchange of 700 permits for transportation to and from third countries took place this year. Four regular bus routes have also been established," the source stated.
During the meeting, the two leaders focused on prospects for developing bilateral cooperation in various areas, including transportation.
It should be noted that, according to the RA Statistics Committee, freight traffic in Armenia in the first half of 2026 amounted to 7,897.4 thousand tons, accelerating in year-on-year growth from 1.9% to 4.2%. Meanwhile, rail freight traffic growth slowed from 27.6% to 24.7%, amounting to 917.3 thousand tons. The dominant mode of road freight transportation remained in decline, with annual growth rates decelerating from 0.6% to 0.5%, reaching 5,804.8 thousand tons.
Passenger transportation by road recovered from a 26.2% decline to a 9.5% increase, reaching 104.2 million passengers, while air passenger transportation accelerated from 3.3% to 10.3%, reaching 2.7 million passengers.
According to statistics, 416,743 Russian citizens visited Armenia for tourism in the first half of 2026, a 23.3% increase compared to the same period last year.
