U.S. Congressman, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has disseminated a statement following the Wednesday incident on the Line of Contact of the NKR-Azerbaijani armed forces.
"The apparent shootdown of an unarmed helicopter over the territory of the NKR, demonstrates Azerbaijan's callous disregard for human life and its willingness to engage in provocative acts of violence to distract from its domestic problems," said Rep. Adam Schiff. "This horrendous conduct threatens to destabilize the entire region."
To recall, a helicopter MI-24 of the NKR Armed Forces with three officers on board was shot down Wednesday at about 1:45 PM local time while making a training flight in the air space of the eastern part of the Line of Contact between the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan. The Azeri serviceman that shot down the helicopter has been awarded a medal. The area is still being bombarded by the Azerbaijani forces.
"The shooting down of an Armenian helicopter in Nagorno-Karabakh bears risk of escalation of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier said.
"Azerbaijan's unprecedented provocation on its border with Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated the situation," Spokesman of Armenia's Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan said in a Facebook post. "The Azeris' allegations that the Armenian helicopters attacked their positions and they just counteracted are senseless as the examination of the debris will show that the helicopters were not armed. The Azeris were still firing when the helicopter fell so we were not able to approach the pilots," Hovhannisyan said. He noted that the consequences of this incident will be very painful for Azerbaijan and will weigh upon the conscience of its military- political leadership.