If the Hermes 900 is not theirs, it is interesting to know which country has violated our airspace, says MoD spokesperson

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, Shushan Stepanyan, has dismissed the statements made by the Azerbaijani side regarding claims that Armenia published a photo of a drone that was shot down in Afghanistan.

Earlier, the spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, Vagif Dargyahlı, stated that the Armenian side allegedly represented an American UAV that was downed in Afghanistan in 2014 as Azerbaijani. He denied the information concerning the downing of 13 drones.

Stepanyan added that the Ministry of Defense has not disseminated any photos. Only the moment of the Hermes 900's destruction has been released; it was shot down in Armenia using the upgraded “OSA-AKM” system. According to her, no other official photos have been distributed. It should be noted that media outlets often publish materials with archival photos, for example, images from the April 2016 war.

Azerbaijani media and officials have latched onto this. However, the Ministry of Defense has already stated that some UAVs have fallen in the areas between the positions of the sides, making it impossible to identify them.

“As for all their UAVs being on the spot, especially when it comes to Hermes, it should be considered that only a few countries have Hermes, and if it is not theirs, then it is interesting to know which country’s UAV has violated our airspace,” she told Sputnik Armenia.

The spokesperson reiterated that the Armenian Armed Forces have shot down 13 Azerbaijani UAVs, three of which are reconnaissance drones and 10 are strike drones (including the Hermes 900 among the three).