YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. Due to Baku’s destructive activities and bellicose stance, it has already been a week since the Armenian side has no information about the fate of the crew of the helicopter Mi-24 of the Air Forces of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic downed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during a training flight.

In a conversation with “Armenpress”, Davit Babayan, the Press Spokesman of the President of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic, stated that getting information about the crew is a priority for the Armenian side and for this reason the Armenian side has turned to the International Committee of the Red Cross for the second time to start a dialogue with Baku due to the efforts of the latter.

Previously it was reported that in the airspace of the eastern sector of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border, in the result of the violation of the ceasefire regime, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces shot a helicopter Mi-24 of the Air Forces of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic during a training flight on November 12 at 13:45. The place of the shot is very close to the line of contact. The press service of the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic informed Armenpress that the rival continues firing in the direction of the incident. The details of the incident are being investigated. Later it was announced from Stepanakert that by preliminary data there are three victims. The Commander of the staff was the Major Sergey Sahakyan.

The Spokesperson of the Artsakh President Davit Babayan told Armenpress that the helicopter was not intended for military actions. “The helicopter was not intended for military actions and did not have any weapons in it. It just implemented training exercises. The helicopter was not of danger for the rival. The Azerbaijani side hit the helicopter from the back”, - said Davit Babayan.

The Minsk Group Co-Chairs (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States, and Pierre Andrieu of France) have also expressed very serious concern about the downing of a helicopter near the Line of Contact and the recent violence in their statement issued in Vienna.