The Ministry of Defense of Armenia intends to take the necessary military and diplomatic measures to neutralize the activities of Azerbaijani snipers on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Line of Contact, says a statement issued by the RA Ministry of Defense.

The Armenian defense office addressed the murder of the Armenian serviceman Vitali Igityan by an Azerbaijani sniper. The RA Ministry of Defense strongly condemns Azerbaijan’s acts of sabotage aimed at heightening the tension on the Line of Contact.

“Such actions by on the part of Azerbaijan immediately after the field assessment mission by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs show that Azerbaijan is ignoring not only U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s appeals for withdrawing snipers from the Line of Contact, but also the concern over the previous victims of Azerbaijani snipers expressed by the OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs, thereby trying to thwart the international community’s efforts to settle the conflict is a peaceful way,” the statement says.

On October 14, Vitaly Igityan (born in 1988) received a perforating head wound as a result of sniping from the Azerbaijani side in the south-eastern direction (Hadrut). He died on the way to hospital. Vitaly Igityan served in Military Unit #38401 of the NKR Defense Army.