Azerbaijan decided to shoot down a Russian military helicopter over Armenia, which resulted in the death of two of their energy, and apologized to Moscow, and offered to provide compensation, and the accident occurred parallel to the battles in the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the helicopter, a Mi-24, was shot down Monday evening by a shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile while it was flying near the Armenian village of "Irasakh" on the border with the Nakhichevan Autonomous Region of Azerbaijan, which is separated by the territories. Armenian for Azerbaijan.

The ministry added that the helicopter was targeted while it was accompanying a convoy of vehicles from a Russian military base in Armenia, confirming that two of its crew were killed and a third was moderately wounded.

The Armenian Ministry of Emergency Situations released footage showing the wreckage of the Russian helicopter on fire, and the ministry said it had deployed ambulance teams at the scene.

According to the Associated Press, the helicopter was shot down approximately 70 km from the borders of Nakhchivan Province, and at a distance of 150 km from the site of its crash there is a large Russian military base.

Error and apology


In a statement published shortly after the incident, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry confirmed that its forces accidentally shot down the Russian helicopter, and said that Azerbaijan apologizes to Russia for what it described as the tragic accident that was not directed against Russia.

She said that the helicopter was flying in the dark at a low altitude in the area near the border during the clashes in the Karabakh region, and outside the range of radar systems.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry added that Russian helicopters had not previously seen flying over the area in which it was shot down, and explained that the responsible Azerbaijani military unit decided to fire at the helicopter based on previous data, taking into account possible Armenian provocations.

The downing of the Russian helicopter comes at a time when the Azerbaijani army made great progress by controlling the city of Shushi and approaching the regional capital, Stepanakert.

Earlier, Azerbaijan accused Armenia of seeking to push Russia into the war that has been going on since late September in the Nagorno Karabakh region, a mountainous region located within the territory of Azerbaijan, which has been controlled by Armenians for nearly 3 decades.

It is noteworthy that Russia binds it to Armenia with a defense agreement, and had hinted that it might intervene militarily if the fighting moved into Armenia.