Russia keeps conducting snap military drills, NATO worriesAugust 29, 2016 - 18:13 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia is increasingly conducting unannounced military exercises, straining its relationship with NATO, the alliance's No. 2 official said Monday, August 29, the Associated Press reports. Russia had staged large drills with no advance notification "with increasing frequency," NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow said. He said there had been about a dozen in the past two years. Vershbow, on a visit to Bucharest, said Russia's drills are allowed by a loophole in a security agreement signed with Western countries. He said NATO wants to "develop a more stringent regime to increase transparency and ...predictability and a way to better stabilize what is a very unsatisfactory relationship with Russia." Alliance members haven't staged snap drills since the end of the Cold War, he said, according to AP. He said "if there is an interest in Moscow in stability and predictability, then these exercises are not the way to go." He said the goal of NATO should be "to upgrade to greater stability and predictability," and to strengthen "the existing regime for transparency." He called on Russia to reconsider its suspension of the Conventional Forces in Europe, which it withdrew from in 2007 amid worsening relations with the U.S. over the presence of Russian troops in Moldova and Georgia. "We've lost the additional predictability that comes with that agreement," Vershbow said. NATO members Poland and Romania are uneasy about Russia's military presence near their borders. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Kazakh Foreign Minister arrives in Armenia Kazakh Foreign Minister Murat Nurtleu on Monday, March 18 arrived in Armenia for a two-day trip. Aliyev touts “good chances” for normalizing ties with Armenia Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has declared that there are “good chances” for normalizing relations with Armenia. Top Armenian, Indian defense officials discuss cooperation The discussions primarily focused on enhancing cooperation in the defence sector between Armenia and India. IDBank unveils three sad stories about fraudsters IDBank has unveiled three scenarios of card fraud that have been happening more and more often in Armenia. |