ArmInfo. In connection with the incident that took place recently in Panik village, Shirak region of Armenia, during the exercises of units of the 102nd Russian military base, RA Defense Minister David Tonoyan visited Panik to get acquainted with the situation on the spot. As a sign of friendship and with the aim of exhausting the incident, the leadership of the Russian base in Panic organized a festive event.
Touching upon the panic incident, David Tonoyan, in his interview with journalists, in particular, noted that the exercises of the 102nd Russian military base are held annually and are coordinated with the Armenian Defense Ministry. "The exercises in Panic carried out reconnaissance missions.The place where these units carried out the exercises was not coordinated with the Armenian Defense Ministry, as, as is known, the scouts did not even reveal the details of their actions even under torture. However, I want to reveal a little secret, the Russian units in the framework of the exercises predetermined Panic the role of the settlement helping them, and they fought on the part of the village with a subdivision of the conventional enemy, "Tonoyan explained, while reiterating that he does not justify the actions of Russian intelligence agents.
At the same time, he noted that mistakes were made both from the Russian and Armenian sides. According to him, the day before the events began, the Russian side announced that movements will be carried out within the framework of the exercises, but did not specify exactly where they will pass. "Such measures should be agreed with us from a legal point of view, however, since the Russian side officially apologized and accepted its guilt, we will draw the appropriate conclusions, and henceforth all the activities of the 102nd military base will be more closely coordinated with the Armenian Defense Ministry" , Tonoyan noted, adding that both the Armenian and Russian sides are conducting an internal investigation into the incident, and the perpetrators will be punished.
Answering a question about whether it is possible that any changes are made to the interstate Treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base in Armenia against the backdrop of the last and other incidents connected with the 102nd base, Tonoyan noted that from time to time there is a need making certain adjustments to interstate documents. In this regard, he did not rule out the possibility of making adjustments to the Treaty on the deployment of the Russian military base in Armenia, noting that the incident in Panic can contribute to this.
To note, in the village of Panik, Russian servicemen carried out exercises accompanied by firing empty cartridges. Since the leadership of the 102nd Russian base did not previously notify the villagers, many of them were frightened. The Armenian Defense Minister subsequently met with the leadership of the military base and discussed the incident. The management of the base admitted its mistake and apologized.