Azernews.Az

A special military exercise will be held in Armenia in late June during which the country will be put on a high war footing, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan was quoted by Radio Azatutyun (Liberty) as saying.

The minister said after a government meeting last week that the exercise aims to examine how the state system would act during a war.

The drills on ``division of military and political responsibilities among government agencies while repelling an attack`` will take place June 25-27, Ohanyan said.

``I ask all governing bodies to issue instructions for preparing responsible persons, because the Republic of Armenia will be put on high combat readiness at that time, and we will prepare decrees on transition to martial law and for holding military meetings. At the same time, the Armenian president will appeal to leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organization [a military alliance of some post-Soviet countries] for support.``

Ohanyan also said Armenia will host a joint exercise of the CSTO`s Collective Rapid Reaction Force (RRF) in September. Ahead of this exercise, Armenian armed forces are holding command and staff exercises with the participation of representatives of all state agencies.

CSTO members are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. One of the organization`s goals is to provide military aid to a CSTO member in the event of a military threat.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, its neighbor in the South Caucasus region, face a bitter conflict over Nagorno Karabakh that emerged in 1988 over Armenian territorial claims. The two countries fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a precarious cease-fire in 1994. Armenian armed forces have since occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan`s internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno Karabakh, defying international calls and UN resolutions. Peace talks, brokered by the United States, Russia and France through the OSCE Minsk Group, have been largely fruitless so far.

Tension has lately escalated on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. Five Azerbaijani soldiers were killed on June 5 in shoot-outs, a day after three Armenian soldiers were reported killed in a skirmish. Clashes on the frontline continue.