STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources)–Reports alleging that Azeri military helicopters violated the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic’s airspace on September 11 are false, the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Ministry said Monday.
The reports, which came from the “Armenian Times,” paper cited sources in the Karabakh Defense Army who said that 8-10 helicopters crossed the line-of-contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijan and returned after a number of minutes of flying around the area.
Lieutenant Colonel Senor Hasratyan, the spokesman for Karabakh’s Defense Ministry, confirmed that Karabakh Air Defense Units had sighted the helicopters but denied they had crossed into Karabakh’s territory. He said the helicopters were in Azeri territory, 6-7 km away from the line of contact and no action was taken by the Karabakhi forces.
Hasratyan stressed that Karabakh’s Air Defense Units “are constantly monitoring the borders for enemy aviation movement and any attempt to infiltrate Artsakh’s air space will be severely counteracted.”
