ArmInfo. Defense Minister David Tonoyan received on July 18 the charge d'affaires of Russia in Armenia Andrei Ivanov, the military and military air attache of the Russian Federation in Armenia Yevgeny Bulavintsev and the commander of the Russian military base, Colonel Vladimir Yelkanov. According to the press service of the Defense Ministry, during the meeting the parties discussed the incident that took place on 17 July in Panik village of Shirak region of Armenia with the participation of Russian servicemen. Minister Tonoyan demanded detailed information about what happened.
The commander of the 102nd Russian military base reported on the nature of the event, as well as its planning and implementation. In particular, Yelkanov informed that the event was part of an agreement signed with the Armenian side at the 102nd military base as part of the military training program for the military base in 2018, and the base representatives informed the Armenian authorities about this. However, considering that when choosing the venue for the events, it was not taken into account that these events may cause discomfort for the local population, the Russian side asked for forgiveness and assured that it will continue to be consistent in planning and informing about the activities to be undertaken outside the Russian base.
Defense Minister David Tonoyan urged the Russian side to carry out more intensive work in similar measures, both with the Armenian Defense Ministry and local authorities. At the "Alagyaz" training ground of the Russian military base in Armenia this week, classes began with motorized rifle units in cooperation with calculations of complexes with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Subdivisions made a 100-kilometer march to the area of accomplishment of tasks in order to achieve tactical superiority, performed reconnaissance of the actions of the conventional adversary with the use of UAV, and then struck the indicated targets on the coordinates of the weapons of combat vehicles, tanks, artillery pieces with the support of fighter and army aviation. Practical classes that will last until the end of this week attract about 2,000 troops and employ 300 military equipment, including unmanned, fighter and army aviation. After that, the Panik village leadership stated that in its administrative limits there were exercises accompanied by shooting (as it later turned out, with blank ammunition), but they did not receive notification of the exercise, so many villagers were frightened. The Russian side apologized for the incident.