11:41, 23 July 2018

Armenia shares responsibility for shooting in Panik village

David Tonoyan, Armenian Minister of Defence, on the southwestern part of the border. Photo by the press service of the Ministry of Defence for Armenia http://www.mil.am/hy/news/5426

An incident during the exercises, which frightened residents in the village of Panik, resulted from a mistake made by the Russian and Armenian sides, reported David Tonoyan, Armenian Minister of Defence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 17, the Russian soldiers held exercises with shooting in the Panik village in the Shirak District of Armenia. The shooting frightened the local residents, and some children lost consciousness, reported Vardan Makeyan, the head of the local community. Later, Alexei Polyukhovich, the commander of the 102nd Russian military base in Gyumri, apologized for the incident and promised to punish the guilty persons.

The most resonant incident involving the Russian military base in Gyumri was the killing of six Avetisyan family members by soldier Valery Permyakov in January 2015. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

David Tonoyan noted that the plan of military exercises was agreed in advance. Meanwhile, according to him, the place for the exercises of the intelligence unit was not indicated, and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not pay attention to that fact, the "Sputnik-Armenia" reports.

In terms of exercises, the Panik village was considered as a settlement which provided assistance to the intelligence unit, while a military column was an enemy. Thus, the Russian soldiers defended the village, the "EADaily" reports.

The Panik village is located next to the "Alagyaz" training ground, where the Russian armed forces held military exercises.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 22, 2018 at 08:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.