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March 19
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“We understand that there are – there may have been a refusal of access to an OSCE representative [to the Armenian helicopter crash site].”

The Director of the Office of Press Relations at the US Department of State, Jeff Rathke, noted the aforementioned in response to a query by the Voice of America.

The Voice of America reporter also asked: “The U.S. ambassador to Yerevan discussed the downing of the Armenian helicopter by Azeri forces in a meeting with the Armenian defense minister. The Armenian defense ministry, in a readout of that meeting, said they spoke of the need to recover the bodies of the helicopter crew. Do you have a readout of that meeting?”

Rathke, in response, stated: “I don’t have a readout of that meeting.” “What’s the nature of your question?”

With respect to the fact that Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, has been unable to visit the crash site of the Armenian helicopter that was shot down, Rathke said: “Well, we understand that there are – there may have been a refusal of access to an OSCE representative.

“We – our position on the helicopter shoot-down remains, though. We think that it’s a reminder of the need for all sides to redouble efforts on a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. I don’t have anything beyond that.”

The Azerbaijani armed forces violated the ceasefire and shot down an NKR Air Force helicopter on November 12. The chopper was downed during a training flight, and it crashed on the neutral zone of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots are believed to have been killed: the commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, as well as Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan. There were no weapons in the chopper. The adversary, on the other hand, continues to fire intensive shots toward the crash site, thus, not allowing access to the area.

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