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Shant-2015’ strategic command and staff military drills held in Armenia on September 3-6 and the tense situation on the border are a mere coincidence and are not related to each other, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Movses Hakobyan told reporters today.

He said the exercises were planned as long ago as November 2014 and their subject was also approved at that time.
“It is not today that the border situation started to escalate. The escalation has been growing in the last two years,” M. Hakobyan said.

As was reported, during a briefing held on September 2 by Armenian Defense Ministry’s Defense Policy Department, Yerevan-based military attaches of foreign states and representatives of international organizations were provided with information about ‘Shant-2015’ military command and staff exercises due in Armenia on September 3-6. Officials of Armenian Defense Ministry said that Shant-2015 are planned military exercises of all-republican significance and aim to check the mobilization readiness of state and military command bodies in the process of the state’s immediate preparations for defense and repulsion of an aggression, the ability to bring forces into a higher level of readiness, and to raise the level of interaction and coordination of actions. Those present were told that given the military-political situation around Armenia and in adjacent territories, the enemy and the situation in the drills’ fictional scenario were maximally brought into line with reality.

On the evening of September 3, Armenian President, Chairman of Armenia’s National Security Council Serzh Sargsyan convened a mock emergency sitting of the National Security Council to provide information about the situation developing around Armenia in recent days according to the scenario of the exercises, the presidential press service reported. Reports stemming from the imaginary situation were made at the sitting, and proposals were put forward. The responsible officials of state agencies received instructions relevant to the scenario. The president underlined the importance of the drills in terms of taking prompt and efficient actions in particular situations.