STEPANAKERT. - The information disseminated by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry on the death of a soldier as a result of firing from the Karabakh side doesn’t correspond to reality, the statement issued by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR/Artsakh) Defense Ministry reads.

“The vanguard units of the Defense Army never act as an aggressor and bindingly observe the ceasefire regime.

Moreover, it should be stressed that in the recent period the Azerbaijani side has strongly activated the cases of ceasefire violation in different sections of the Contact Line, firing not only from small-scale rifle weaponry but also machine-guns and long-range sniper rifles. The most recent example of this is the 50 targeted shots fired from Black Arrow and Istiglal large-scale rifles in the northern direction of the Contact Line last night.

Stemming from this, we advise the Azerbaijani side to remember about its international obligations to observe the ceasefire instead of making warnings.  At the same time, we warn the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan that any targeting of Armenian soldiers by the adversary will not remain unpunished,” the statement reads.