Tuesday, August 27 2019 09:58

ArmInfo.Using force on the Amulsar issue, it will become much more difficult for the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, to contrast himself with his  predecessors, leading researcher at the Center for Euro-Atlantic  Security of the Institute for International Studies at Moscow State  Institute of Foreign Relations Sergey Markedonov expressed a similar  opinion to ArmInfo.

"The protests by civic activists who blocked Amulsar have already  provoked a tough reaction from law enforcement agencies. And in case  of repeated use of force, which, given the current situation, is by  no means excluded, the Armenian prime minister will lose such a  powerful argument as the non-use of harsh methods against opponents,"  he said.

Amulsar mine is located 10 kilometers from the resort of Jermuk.  According to the explored reserves of gold, the deposit is the second  largest in Armenia. Geological exploration of the area, which began  in 2007, ended in 2015 with an environmental and social assessment of  mining at the mine. Civil activists and environmentalists opposed the  mine's operation, organizing mass protests in this regard, forcing  Lydian Armenia to conduct additional research.

"We see that, as a politician who enjoys significant popular support,  Pashinyan has already faced a difficult dilemma between maintaining  his own high rating and political and economic expediency. Along with  the well-known economic benefits, the operation of Amulsar also  creates significant problems, primarily environmental ones. Opponents  to the authorities insist on the losses incurred by the exploitation  of the mine to water resources and resorts of Armenia, "he noted.

According to the analyst's estimates, Pashinyan's meeting with the  residents of Jermuk and civil activists who blocked Amulsar's work  last year did not bring a solution. After Pashinyan recognized on  August 19 the expediency of operating the mine, taking into account  high environmental standards and the recommendations of the ELARD  group, many of Jermuk residents, environmentalists and civic  activists consider the prime minister to be almost a lobbyist for  this project. "The bottom line of all this remains a very difficult  dilemma. Civil society activists were the most loyal allies of  Pashinyan and his My Step bloc.  At the same time, the Amulsar  project was considered a heritage of the past. The heritage, against  which the Armenian prime minister has always been extremely careful.  "Today Pashinyan is already deprived of this opportunity, now his  position no longer leaves place for double interpretations,"  Markedonov concluded.

In 2018, the RA Investigative Committee opened a case on suspicion of  causing environmental damage from production at the field. Lydian  Armenia, in turn, ordered an environmental assessment from large  international companies. Since 2018, three environmental assessments  have been carried out, confirming that the development of Amulsar is  carried out in accordance with all international standards and does  not contain uncontrolled risks to the environment. The last of them  the expert opinion of the international ELARD group with conclusions  about the insignificance of the risks for the ecology of Armenia due  to the operation of the mine was published on August 14, 2019 by the  Investigative Committee. However, these arguments are not convincing  for residents of Jermuk, civic activists and environmentalists.