Photo: www.president.am
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan on Thursday met with members of the National Security Council at the start of strategic command-and-staff military exercises supposed to simulate the country’s response to possible aggression by a “conventional enemy”.
All government bodies are being involved in the four-day exercises codenamed Shant-2015 that are taking place amid a real upsurge in violence at the northeastern section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
It emerged on September 3 that an Armenian serviceman was killed by a bullet released from the Azerbaijani side. Earlier, two Armenian soldiers were reportedly wounded in skirmishes at the border in the Tavush province, while a 43-year-old woman and her 23-year-old son were also hospitalized with wounds after Azerbaijan’s shelling of their village located not far from the border.
The Armenian military said up to 20 Armenian borderline villages had been targeted by Azerbaijani forces in recent days. At the same time, Defense Ministry officials as well as politicians in Yerevan give assurances that the Armenian military keep the situation under control.
“Azerbaijan is responsible for each loss, regardless of whether it is from the Armenian or Azerbaijani side,” Eduard Sharmazanov, deputy speaker of parliament and spokesman for the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, said late on Thursday. He suggested that Azerbaijan experiences serious problems in its domestic policy and by escalating tensions at the borders the neighboring country’s authorities seek to shift the focus of their population to another issue.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the personal representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, held meetings with officials in Yerevan and Stepanakert on September 3 to discuss the latest tensions at the borders. In particular, the need for further cooperation between the OSCE Minsk Group and the NKR Defense Army was brought forward during the talks between Kasprzyk and commander of the NKR Defense Army, Lieutenant-General Levon Mnatsakanyan. Kasprzyk also met with NKR President Bako Sahakyan.
The latest border tensions come ahead of fresh talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers that are due to be held on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session in New York later this month. The talks will be part of broader efforts by the American, Russian and French co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group to arrange a meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders.
Source: Armenianow.am