Thursday, Mining Company Downplays End Of EBRD Investment In Amulsar Project August 13, 2020 • Naira Nalbandian Armenia - Gold mining facilities constructed by Lydian International company at Amulsar deposit, 18 May 2018. A company pursuing a gold mining project in Armenia amid protests by environmental activists says the news about the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) ending its investment in the project will not affect its activities. The EBRD has told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service (Azatutyun) that Lydian International, which owns 100% of the shares of Lydian Armenia, the company that intends to develop the Amulsar gold mine, has been insolvent since 2019 and is currently being held in a Jersey court for the closing proceedings. According to the EBRD, as of July 2020, the Amulsar gold mine belongs to the Canadian Lydian Ventures, in which the prestigious international financial institution is not a shareholder. The Armenian government issued Lydian a license to develop a mine in Armenia’s central Vayots Dzor province in 2016. But the site has been blockaded by environmental activists and local residents since May 2018 when a new government was formed in Armenia following the ‘Velvet Revolution’. Activists claim that mining at Amulsar poses a danger to the local eco-system. They demand that a new environmental impact study be conducted and that Lydian’s license be revoked. In March 2019, Lydian notified the Armenian government of a potential international arbitration. According to Sustainable Development Director of Lydian Armenia Armen Stepanian, Lydian International had to get delisted on the Toronto Stock Exchange, and as a result of this restructuring the EBRD lost its shares. Stepanian described it as a consequence of “long-term lawlessness in Armenia.” “When we talk about lawlessness and inaction, in fact, we mean that roads leading to the mining site remain closed. A group of people has decided that these roads should be closed and have doomed the other side to idling, and it has lasted so long that a need for restructuring has emerged. Let’s call it a financial model. The structure of the organization needed to be changed so that activities could be continued. It is difficult to imagine a business that could wait for a decision for 26 months. It would be naive to think that financial problems would not arise as a result,” Lydian’s representative said. At this moment the EBRD has no legal relations with the Amulsar mining project, but the project will be implemented regardless of this circumstance, Lydian Armenia stressed. “This, in fact, will not affect the activities of the company and the quality of its work,” the company said. Environmental activist Tehmine Yenokian, who is a resident of the Gndevaz community adjacent to the Amulsar mine, said that she recently learned that the EBRD was no longer involved in the Amulsar mining project. She said that 23 residents of Jermuk, a resort town in the Vayots Dzor province, had filed a complaint with the EBRD Ombudsman’s Office, which, according to her, was accepted for consideration on June 12. Yenokian said it is from the reply to the complaint that they learned that the bank no longer had financial interests in the Amulsar project. The activist claimed that the future of the company looks even more uncertain and risky for them now. “Our complaint only helped reveal this information, which for six months was hidden from different important circles in Armenia,” Yenokian said. The activist believes that even if the existing obstacles are removed, at this moment Lydian Armenia has no financial ability to operate the mine. Lydian Armenia counters: “We will find it out when we start working again at our previous capacity. Lydian Armenia is not part of any bankruptcy proceedings today.” Armenian Government Approves More Pandemic Aid Packages • Nane Sahakian Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at a government session (file photo) The Armenian government on Thursday approved two more assistance programs aimed at stimulating businesses hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. The latest aid packages are designed for tourism and agriculture, Economy Minister Tigran Khachatrian said. He said that so far this year revenues in the tourism sector of Armenia have fallen twice as compared to the same period of 2019. The minister stressed that the fresh government assistance will focus not only on hotels and tour operators, but also on the public catering sector. “As a result of financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, companies have faced significant difficulties in maintaining the assets necessary for continuing their business. The purpose of this support is to help companies operating in this field to keep staffs and promote job increases,” Khachatrian said. During today’s government session Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and members of his cabinet discussed at length whether companies breaking anti-epidemic measures set by the authorities or evading taxes by not issuing cash register receipts to their customers should be deprived of pandemic-related government aid. Pashinian called for a more responsible business behavior, stressing that those who evade taxes “steal food from soldiers.” After discussions the government decided that support should be denied to businesses that do not provide customers with cash register receipts. The other aid program approved by the government today is aimed at supporting alcohol producers so that they can procure grapes. “The coronavirus pandemic has affected the activities of brandy and wine companies both on the domestic market and on the main foreign markets. Demand for their products has fallen, which has also affected sales,” Economy Minister Khachatrian explained. At the start of the coronavirus-related lockdown in March the Armenian government pledged at least 150 billion drams (about $300 million) for aid packages to businesses and citizens affected by the pandemic as well as post-crisis stimulation of the economy. Aliyev Says Russian Military Supplies To Armenia Raise Concerns In Azerbaijan • Gevorg Stamboltsian Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev during their meeting in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 1, 2018 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has expressed his dissatisfaction with what he says was the fresh delivery of Russian military supplies to Armenia in the weeks that followed the latest deadly fighting along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July. In a statement released on Thursday, the press service of the Azerbaijani leader said that Aliyev raised the issue during his telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last night. It said that the conversation was initiated by Aliyev to discuss the issue of military supplies to Armenia. According to the statement, Aliyev claimed that beginning on July 17, when the situation at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border began to deescalate, “Moscow has supplied about 400 tons of military supplies to Armenia.” “The deliveries were made through the territories of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Aliyev said, as quoted by his press service, adding that military supplies to Armenia raise “serious concerns and questions among the Azerbaijani public.” The Kremlin also issued a statement on the August 12 telephone conversation between Putin and Aliyev, but it did not mention the discussion of the issue of military supplies. “The presidents discussed regional issues within the context of the tension along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border in July. The Russian side stressed the inadmissibility of any action that would lead to the escalation of the situation,” the Kremlin said in its statement. Armenian officials have not commented on the Azerbaijani president’s statements yet. At least five Armenian servicemen and 12 Azerbaijani servicemen, including a general, were killed during several days of fighting that erupted along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border on July 12 and proceeded with the use of heavy artillery and drones. In the wake of the clashes the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in which Russia acts as a co-chair along with the United States and France urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to restart peace talks aimed at resolving the decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia hosts a Russian military base and is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization that entitles it to receive armaments from Russia at knock-down prices. It is believed that since 2011 Azerbaijan has purchased from Russia up to 4 billion dollars’ worth of arms, including some modern offensive weapons. After the July border escalation Azerbaijan also criticized Serbia for supplying weapons to Armenia. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.