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Azerbaijan plans to hold large-scale drills with participation of various military branches of troops, army corpses and formations from September 17-22, the country’s defense ministry said, according to local sources.  It is noted that the exercises will involve more than 20,000 military personnel, more than 200 tanks and other armored vehicles, more than 120 rocket and artillery mounts of different calibers, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, as well as 30 aircraft for various purposes.

As part of the exercises, the ministry said, “the crushing defeat of armed groups and forward units of Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh will be worked out,”

Panorama.am turned to Davit Babayan, the Head of the Information Department at Artsakh Republic Resident’s Office to comment on the drills. In Babayan’s words, Azerbaijan is trying to show strength in response to the military-tactical exercised “Shant 2018” held in Armenian.  To remind, the three-day "Shant-2018" exercise was held in Armenia on September 11-14.

“The adversary is simply showing that if Armenia can stage exercises they can also hold drills. However, in contrast to Armenia, Azerbaijan’s behavior is quite aggressive. what is planned in Azerbaijan is an aggression. It is known that the primary goal of their drills is the occupation and elimination of the Artsakh Republic,” Babayan stressed, adding it has always been the case with Azerbaijani drills.