Wednesday, July 18 2018 20:35

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.