YEREVAN, JULY 18, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s defense minister Davit Tonoyan held a meeting today with Russia’s Chargés d'affaires a.i. Andrei Ivanov, Russia’s military and air force attaché Major General Yevgeny Bulavintsev and Commander of the 102nd Russian military base of Gyumri Colonel Vladimir Yelkanov.

The meeting focused on the July 17 incident in the village of Panik in Shirak Province involving Russian servicemen of the 102nd military base.

The defense minister demanded to present detailed information about the incident.

The Commander of the Russian base reported that the drills were included in the 2018 combat readiness program of the base, which was agreed upon by the Armenian side, and Armenian authorities have been notified about it.

Nevertheless, taking into account the fact that they didn’t consider the possible inconvenience of the locals, the Russian side formally apologized and assured that it will be consistent in notification and planning of events outside the Russian base.

The Armenian defense minister urged to have closer and more detailed cooperation with both the ministry and local self-governing bodies in these matters and to pay greater attention to strengthening friendly relations with the civilian population.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan