The events of recent years indicate the continued activation of terrorist organizations in the international arena, said acting Director of the National Security Service of Armenia Colonel Eduard Martirosyan at the opening of the gathering of the senior staff of the anti-terrorist units of the security agencies and special services of the CIS member states.

Terrorism and extremism remain among the key threats, he noted.

According to experts, in the coming years, a decrease in the activity of terrorist organizations is not predicted.

“Despite the fact that so far no specific terrorist aspirations to the territory of Armenia have been identified, nevertheless, taking into account the peculiarities of the country's geographical position and the prospects of involvement in possible regional processes due to this circumstance, one cannot exclude the possibility of Armenia choosing international terrorist organizations as a target to attack,” Martirosyan noted.

He continued that in order to identify such trends with the active cooperation with the CIS Antiterrorist Center and partners, a systematic analysis of the threat assessment is being carried out. Particular attention is paid to the protection of critical infrastructure facilities, including the fuel and energy complex. This explains the intent of the Ararat Anti-Terror 2019 exercises.

As the direct object of the exercises, the areas of location of critical objects were selected. According to the preliminary plan, the "sleeping cells" of international terrorist organizations plan to disrupt the fuel and energy infrastructure and destabilize the situation in the republic.

Martirosyan reminded that this is not the first training exercise in Armenia.