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The strength is in the truth

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  • The strength is in the truth

    Agency WPS
    DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
    September 3, 2004, Friday

    THE STRENGTH IS IN THE TRUTH

    SOURCE: Krasnaya Zvezda, August 31, 2004, p. 3

    by Oleg Gorupai

    The United Army Group of the Russian and Armenian Armed Forces ran a
    tactical exercise at the testing site of the Training Center of the
    Armenian Defense Ministry named after marshal of the Soviet Union
    Bagramjan. The exercise included shooting practice elements. Armenia
    was represented by servicemen of the 549th Separate Motorized
    Infantry Regiment (Commander - Colonel Vaan Arsenjan), 523rd Separate
    Armored Battalion, multiple rocker launcher battery of BM-21s, two
    reconnaissance groups, company of sappers, special platoon, two SU-25
    ground-attack aircraft, four MI-24 helicopters, and two MI-8
    transport helicopters. Russia was represented by servicemen of the
    123rd Motorized Infantry Regiment (Commander - Colonel Sergei
    Khmelevsky), artillery brigade of 2S1 complexes (Gvozdika), artillery
    battery of D-30s, multiple rocker launcher battery of BM-21s, and two
    MIG-29s of the 102nd Military Base of the Russian Army Group in the
    Caucasus quartered in Armenia. Combat organization and cooperation
    was drilled. The exercise was commanded by Lieutenant General Mikhail
    Grigorjan, Defense Minister of Armenia and United Army Group
    Commander. Almost 3,000 servicemen were involved.

    According to the legend, the enemy attacked in the Gyumri and
    Kirovakan directions. Servicemen involved in the exercise were
    expected to practice defensive action, counterattack, extermination
    of the advanced units of the enemy, and attack back to the state
    border.

    Russian Ambassador to Armenia Anatoly Dryukov said shortly before the
    exercise that it was not aimed against any third country but was
    needed to practice defense action only. The statement was made
    because of the speculations in newspapers that Russia was flexing its
    muscles in the Caucasus, that all of the following were links in one
    chain - deterioration of the military-political situation in Georgia,
    command exercise of the Nagorno-Karabakh army, and tactical exercise
    in Armenia. Defense Minister of Armenia Serzh Sarkisjan also
    denounced the assumption. He said that it was a planned exercise, run
    for the ninth time in approximately one and the same time of the
    year, and pursuing no political motives. Sarkisjan said that the
    tenth exercise of the series would take place next year and that
    serious means and forces would be deployed in it to celebrate the
    jubilee.

    The strength of the Russian-Armenian cooperation is in the truth, not
    in money. There is no need to corroborate the statement. At every
    exercise run by the United Army Group, officers of foreign armies,
    political scientists, and journalists have access to all information
    that may interest them. It is possible nowadays to find in the media
    all relevant information on the Armed Forces of Armenia, composition
    of the Russian-Armenian United Army Group, volume and size of the
    military aid Russia sends to its strategic partner. It is common
    knowledge that the Armenian national army is up to 40,000 men strong,
    and that about 300,000 men comprise the mobilizational resources.

    Summing up the exercise, Sarkisjan said that all tasks were
    performed. Alexander Studenikin, Commander of the Russian Army Group
    in the Caucasus, is of the same opinion. He is convinced that units
    and formations of the United Army Group can properly operate in the
    hostilities.

    Translated by A. Ignatkin
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