Mr. Pashinyan, how confident are you that our adversary [Azerbaijan] won’t hit our cyanide pit? A Jermuk resident asked this at Friday’s public assembly with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, in the town.

“We [Jermuk] are in a war zone,” he added. “We are 18 kilometers away.”

“And how confident are you that the adversary won’t hit our nuclear [power] plant?” Pashinyan responded, but did not get into a debate with this Jermuk resident.

He assured, however, that in the conversation he will have with representatives of the Advanced Resources Development (ELARD) Lebanese consultancy firm, he will see to it that the answers to be given will be clear and not cause any misinterpretations.

The Armenian government had commissioned an expertise study to ELARD, and the latter has concluded that the operation of the Amulsar gold mine poses no threat to the waters of Lake Sevan and the mineral waters of Jermuk.