The OSCE Chairperson-in-Office (CiO) and Swiss Foreign Minister, Didier Burkhalter, expressed his deep concern about Wednesday’s downing of a helicopter near the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. 

He also called upon the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan to do their utmost to prevent such incidents and to honor the ceasefire.

The CiO called it particularly regrettable that several spikes of violence had resulted in an unprecedented number of casualties this year.

“Strict adherence to the ceasefire regime and full respect of previously made commitments are indispensable to reach the level of confidence necessary to agree on a conflict settlement,” he said.

Referring to Wednesday’s statement by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, Burkhalter also expressed his appreciation for the intensification of high-level contacts in holding the dialogues, and urged the two presidents to continue these talks.  

A Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) Air Force helicopter was shot down on Wednesday, and as a result of ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The helicopter was downed during a training flight in the airspace of the eastern sector of the Karabakh-Azerbaijan Line of Contact. As a result, three pilots were killed: The commander of the helicopter, Major Sergey Sahakyan, and Senior Lieutenant Sargis Nazaryan and Lieutenant Azat Sahakyan.