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Azerbaijan accidentally shot down a Russian military helicopter in Armenia as clashes broke out in Nagorno-Karabakh today, threatening to drive Moscow further into conflict.
The defense ministry in Moscow said two crew members were killed when the Mi-24 helicopter was hit by a portable air defense system near the border with Azerbaijan.
A third member of the crew was injured but managed to evacuate, he said.
Azerbaijan quickly admitted to shooting down the helicopter by accident and apologized.
“The Azerbaijani side offers an apology to the Russian side in connection with this tragic incident,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that the measure “was not directed against” Moscow.
Azerbaijan said the decision was made to open fire on the helicopter due to the “tense situation in the region and increased combat readiness” after six weeks of fierce clashes with Armenian-backed separatists for control of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The helicopter was shot down near the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, a landlocked Azerbaijani enclave between Armenia and Turkey, far from Nagorno-Karabakh.
Russia has a military pact with Armenia and a base in the country, but has so far insisted that it will not get involved in the conflict with Azerbaijan unless Armenian territory is threatened.
Fierce fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh continued today, with conflicting reports on whether Azerbaijani forces had managed to capture the key city of the disputed region of Shusha, known as Shushi in Armenian.
Armenian officials insisted that the battles for the city were ongoing, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said: “The fight for Shushi continues.”
The Armenian government said there were “persistent battles” in recent days and that the separatist forces “confidently defended and are defending the fortress city of Shushi.”
But Vahram Poghosyan, a spokesman for the Karabakh separatist leader, posted on Facebook that Armenian forces had lost control of Shusha, a strategically vital city that is the second largest in the region.
“We have to admit that a chain of rifts is still haunting us and that the city of Shushi is completely out of our control,” Poghosyan said.
“The enemy is on the outskirts of Stepanakert,” he said, referring to the main city in the region, “and the existence of the capital is already in danger.”
Karabakh declared its independence almost 30 years ago, but the declaration has not been recognized internationally, not even by Armenia, and it remains part of Azerbaijan under international law.
Recent fighting has been the worst in decades, with more than 1,000 people killed, including dozens of civilians, and the actual death toll is believed to be much higher.
The fighting has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, leaving Stepanakert a devastated ghost town after weeks of bombing.
Former Soviet rivals have left three recent ceasefire agreements brokered by the United States, Russia and France in ruins.
The three countries co-chair the “Minsk Group” that helped negotiate a truce in 1994 but has failed to mediate a lasting resolution of the long-standing territorial dispute.
Diplomatic efforts appeared to increase over the weekend as fighting intensified near Shusha, and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday.
Turkey is a key ally of Azerbaijan and its participation would be key to any deal to stop the fighting.
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