Russia Cuts Off Gas to Armenia Days After Diversification Announcement

Just three days after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told journalists that Armenia is actively seeking to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas, Gazprom Armenia announced a temporary halt to supplies. The company, a unit of state-controlled Gazprom, said deliveries to Armenia would be suspended from September 15 to 25 and attributed the interruption to scheduled maintenance and repair work in the Russian Federation. Gazprom Armenia did not provide advance notice of the suspension but asserted that the pause would not cause shortages for the Armenian market. The company said domestic gas reserves and "additional gas supplies" from Iran would be used to cover demand during the outage. Armenian officials had no immediate public comment and did not announce measures to counter the suspension. The supply cut comes amid broader regional dynamics. Reports from Azerbaijan indicated Baku could be willing to supply Armenia with substantial volumes of gas, but those deliveries would only commence after the two countries finalize a provisional peace agreement brokered in Washington in August 2025. A central hurdle in those talks is Baku’s demand that Armenia amend its constitution to explicitly recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Nagorno-Karabakh, territory retaken by Azerbaijani forces in 2023. That demand makes Azerbaijani gas a politically fraught alternative for Yerevan. Despite Prime Minister Pashinyan’s governing Civil Contract Party holding a parliamentary majority after June’s elections, a constitutional amendment would likely require a national referendum and faces strong domestic opposition. Pashinyan has also pointed to the pending Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) initiative as a potential avenue to resolve Armenia’s gas supply questions, but TRIPP is linked to the broader peace process with Azerbaijan.