Russia, together with other co-chairing countries of the mediating OSCE Minsk Group, will continue targeted efforts in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman said Thursday, a day after Azerbaijani forces shot down an unarmed Artsakh military helicopter, killing three people. “Russia calls on Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from moves which could lead to the escalation of tensions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday, TASS reports. “We are very concerned about the incident which has led to the deaths of people. We offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” Lukashevich said, adding that Russia’s stance was reflected in the statement of the OSCE Minsk Group on November 12. The spokesman said that Russia reminds the leadership of Azerbaijan and Armenia of their “responsibility towards complying with their commitments on searching for a peaceful resolution of the conflict which they took at the meeting in Sochi, Newport and Paris.” The United States and the European Union similarly echoed international mediators’ concerns of an escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resulting from Wednesday’s incident. Footage from the Azeri side showed the helicopter explode in the air over the neutral zone between the two sides and officials said the three crew members were killed. Armenia promised “painful” consequences for Azerbaijan after it downed the helicopter, which had been carrying out training exercises. The Azeri defense ministry said an army officer had been honored for shooting down the aircraft.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 05:32:33 +0000
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