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In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijan apparently accidentally shot down a Russian helicopter. The Foreign Ministry has apologized and wants to financially compensate Russia.
A Russian military Mi-24 helicopter was shot down in the Nagorno-Karabakh war. The Russian Defense Ministry said it crashed on Armenian territory. Two crew members were killed and another was injured.
The helicopter lost control after a rocket launch and crashed in a mountainous region near the border with the Azerbaijani enclave Nakhichevan. The incident occurred outside the combat zone in Nagorno-Karabakh, he said. It is located more than 100 kilometers from it. As an ally of Russia, Armenia pledged to support the investigation.
According to the Reuters news agency, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry apologized for the shooting down and spoke of an “incident”. They are willing to pay Russia compensation for the loss.
Armenians fear defeat
Azerbaijani troops continue to advance in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Over the weekend, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced that he had taken the strategically important city of Shusha.
The leader of the region, which is inhabited predominantly by Armenians, Wagram Pogossjan, has now admitted that the city is no longer under Nagorno-Karabakh control. “Unfortunately, we have a series of faults and the city of Shushi is completely out of our control,” Pogossyan said.
“Our existence is in danger”
Shushi, as the Armenians of Karabakh call it, is only eleven kilometers from the capital, Stepanakert. It should be the next Azerbaijan destination. “The enemy is in front of Stepanakert, now our very existence is in danger,” Pogossjan wrote on Facebook.
Shusha is considered a key city; the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities themselves had announced that his loss could ultimately mean a defeat in the fighting for the entire region. In Baku, Aliyev announced that victory in the conflict with Armenia was near. He wrote on Twitter that he had put another 23 villages under Azerbaijani control. “Long live the Azerbaijani army!”, “Karabakh is Azerbaijan!” He tweeted.
Aliyev celebrated the conquest of Shusha in Baku on Sunday. “This is a great victory!” He said. Aliyev spoke now of the fact that a goal in life was coming true. “The restoration of territorial integrity and the return of our territories was the most important mission for me as president.”
Armenia: enemy attacks repelled
The Armenian Defense Ministry said the country’s armed forces had repelled enemy attacks in various directions today. Consequently, there were particularly fierce fights for Martuni, Martakert, Tagaward, and elsewhere. The attacks were repulsed from all sides. According to his own account, the Nagorno-Karabakh troops again lost dozens of soldiers in the fight with Azerbaijan.
Not internationally recognized
Nagorno-Karabakh had unilaterally declared its independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union. This was followed by a war with 30,000 dead in the 1990s. The self-proclaimed Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh is not yet internationally recognized and is considered part of Azerbaijan under international law. Most of it is inhabited by Armenians.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Caucasus region flared up again in late September. According to official information from both parties to the conflict, more than 1,000 people have died since the fighting began.
