6,000 grapevine seedlings imported from France were turned back at the Armenian border because they were infected with the Phylloxera - one of the most destructive grape pests worldwide.

Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate says the paperwork accompanying the grape vines claimed that the seedlings were grown in a Phylloxera-free zone and carried no harmful organisms.

Phylloxera is a microscopic louse or aphid, that lives on and eats roots of grapes. It can infest a vineyard from the soles of vineyard worker’s boots or naturally spreading from vineyard-to-vineyard by proximity.