Opinion: «Russia demonstrates readiness to neutralize threats from NATO and Turkey by conducting military trainings in Armenia»

The artillery units of the 102nd Russian military base in Armenia have started the field trainings, completing a 100 km march toward the mountain landfill of “Alagyaz”. Within a month, the gunners will learn to deploy from marching into the firing position the self-propelled howitzer “Carnation”, multiple launch rocket systems “Grad”, mortars “Podnos” and anti-missile systems “Contest”, reports the press service of the Southern Military District. During the training the military will perform more than 20 standards in the core disciplines, as well as group and individual standards in topographic and geodetic, meteorological and ballistic preparation, reconnaissance conduct, determination of coordinates of targets and transmission of firing data calculations.

Russia has always paid great attention to the combat capability of its military base in Armenia, but the latter trainings are related to the international pressure on Russia, says Ivan Konovalov, Russian military expert and director of the Strategic Conjecture Centre. “The frequency of the Russian military trainings in Armenia should be considered in the overall context of the international situation. Russia is under enormous pressure from various sides, and the Russian armed forces are the first instance to resist this pressure,” told RUSARMINFO Ivan Konovalov. According to the expert, the active phase of military exercises is primarily related to the increasing confrontation between Russia and NATO, which is enlarging its military presence in the Black Sea. In addition, the trainings are also connected with Turkey’s clumsy attempts to play on the contradictions between the states of the South Caucasus. “The higher Turkish authorities have stated that they are willing to settle the Karabakh conflict. Ankara is not involved in the negotiation process, it turns out that it’s going to resolve the conflict by military means. That’s why we need to demonstrate the readiness of our forces in Armenia,” concluded the military expert. On February 8, the Russian military authorities conducted a comprehensive sudden check of combat readiness of troops of the Southern Military District, which also includes the military base in Armenia, as well as airborne troops, aviation, parts of the Black Sea Fleet, and the Caspian Flotilla. The maneuvers involved 8.5 thousand Russian troops, 900 military vehicles, 200 planes and helicopters, 50 ships.