YEREVAN, 20 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan has touched upon the misinformation that certain foreign media outlets have spread in relation to Azerbaijan’s diversion operations.

 The press secretary of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia mentioned the following as he gave a clarification to “Armenpress”:

 “Unfortunately, some leading international media outlets fell for Azerbaijan’s official falsifications, fell into a trap and spread misinformation. In relation to this, we officially inform that as always, the Armenian side provided brief and exhaustive information about the military situation, as well as the incident and the Armenian side’s casualties. Journalistic ethics requires that the media outlets clarify information about the parties’ casualties from official sources and not blindly repeat Azerbaijani media outlets, which are known for always spreading misinformation. In relation to this, we once again have to emphasize the fact that unlike our neighbors who solve “military issues” at the price of quantity and without taking into account the casualties, the Armenian party, traditionally praising each of the Armenian boys putting his life at risk for the homeland at any moment, responds to the loss of each soldier with deep sorrow and regret and will never forget them and their endeavors."

 A fortified group of the Azerbaijani special task forces attacked the positions located in the Northern (Gyulistan) direction on March 19 at around 08:30. Due to the operation, which lasted about two hours, the position’s staff and the assisting forces, compelled the rival to flee. Our troops chased the rival and totally eliminated the group by their positions.

The Press Service of the Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic informed “Armenpress” that the Defense Army servicemen Hakob G. Khachatryan (born in 1996), Eduard G. Hayrapetyan (born in 1995) and Arshak K. Harutyunyan (born in 1995) courageously sacrificed their lives facing the rival. Another 4 servicemen of the Defense Army were injured.

The Ministry of Defense of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic shares the heavy sorrow of loss and expresses its support to the family members, relatives and fellow servicemen of the victims.