During the meeting, the parties discussed the details of the 17 July incident at the village of Panik, Shirak Region, involving Russian servicemen. Minister Tonoyan demanded to provide detailed information on what happened.

The commander of the 102nd Military Base gave explanations on the nature, planning and implementation of the action. In particular, according to Col. Yelkanov, the event was preliminarily agreed upon with the Armenian side, it was included in the 102nd Military Base’s 2018 combat readiness plan and was duly reported to the relevant authorities of Armenia. However, given the fact that it was not taken into account that the event could disturb the local population during the selection of the venue of the event, the Russian side has officially apologized and assured that in the future, when planning events outside the Russian base, the Armenian authorities would be duly informed.

Minister Tonoyan, from his part, urged them to closely cooperate with the Armenian Defence Ministry and local authorities, and pay more attention to strengthening good relations with the civilian population.