Azerbaijan`s Foreign Ministry makes statement on the downing of Russian military helicopter

Azerbaijan`s Foreign Ministry makes statement on the downing of Russian military helicopter
# 09 November 2020 22:00 (UTC +04:00)

According to information received in the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan from the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, a Mi-24 military helicopter of the Russian Federation was shot down in the Nakhchivan section of the Armenian-Azerbaijan state border on November 9 at 18:30, APA reports citing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement in connection with the incident.

The Ministry said:

“The following should be underlined in this regard:

- the helicopter flew in the close proximity to the Armenian-Azerbaijani state border amid continuing active clashes in the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone;

- the flight took place at a low altitude during hours of darkness, outside the radar observation of the air defense system;

- helicopters of the Russian air force had not been previously sighted in the area;

The duty combat crew decided to open fire in the wake of the aforementioned factors and due to tightened situation in the region amid a high-level combat readiness in connection with the potential provocations of the Armenian side.

The Azerbaijani side offers an apology to the Russian side in connection with this tragic incident, which is an accident and was not directed against the Russian side.

The Azerbaijani side expresses its sincere condolences to the families of the killed crew members and wishes the injured a speedy recovery.

The Azerbaijani side affirms its readiness to pay appropriate compensation."

#
#

THE OPERATION IS BEING PERFORMED