As part of the three-day Shant -2018 military exercise, Chief of General Staff Maj. Gen.
Artak Davtyan introduced on 12 September the situation around the Republic of Armenia according to the set-up of the exercise: the situation in a certain country is aggravated; Azerbaijan, backed by Turkey, is trying to settle the Artsakh conflict by military force.

Along with combat operations and intrusion attempts by the adversary’s subversive groups, Azerbaijan is shelling our settlements, resulting in casualties. The Armenian armed forces are destroying the enemy’s weapon emplacements. The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations is conducting large-scale operations to evacuate the civilian population.

Under the exercise scenario, some 400 refugees have penetrated into Armenia from Turkey. The law enforcement agencies are engaged in neutralizing the detected groups. The actions are carried out in conditions resembling real military situation.

A cabinet meeting is also expected to take place as soon as possible to appropriately address the situation in the country.

Maj. Gen. Davtyan took questions from reporters, spoke about the issues of concern as well as the real situation on the country’s borders, saying that that despite the fact that the shelling of the Armenian settlements by the Azerbaijani forces have become more frequent in the north-eastern part of the border, the Armenian armed forces return fire to destroy the enemy's weapon emplacements and keep the complete control of the situation, while refraining from opening fire on the peaceful population in the adversary's settlements. He also said the situation on the Nakhichevan sector of the border is not worrying either and that not tension is seen there.