The Killing of a Civilian is Directed Against Russian Peacekeepers: Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh

The killing of a civilian is intended to demoralize our population and sow discord in Armenian-Russian fraternal relations, a result of their fascist worldview. This was stated by David Babayan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh, in an interview with 24News, referring to the shooting by an Azerbaijani soldier on November 8 in the vicinity of Shushi, which resulted in one death and three injuries among the staff of the ‘Jrmugh Koyughi’ LLC.

Babayan emphasized that this incident has no connection to the first anniversary of the tripartite declaration signed on November 9-10, 2020, or to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's visit to Shushi on that same day. “This is merely a manifestation of Azerbaijan’s state policy. It reflects the sentiments of the Azerbaijani side towards the people of Artsakh. This is the result of a very meticulous military-political calculation. There are indeed a significant number of factors that characterize such behavior,” he noted.

Commenting on the activities of the Russian peacekeeping mission, the Minister of Artsakh's diplomacy referenced a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense. “Russia has officially issued a statement on this incident, indicating that the Azerbaijani side opened fire, resulting in casualties.”

According to him, such actions by the Azerbaijani side also strike a blow against the Russian peacekeeping operation. “A terrorist in civilian clothes performing a state commission appeared between Russian positions, at a distance of 500-600 meters. This area is always under Russian control, which means that there have never been issues there. The Azerbaijani side has caught the Russian side off guard,” Babayan emphasized.

When asked what measures the Russian peacekeeping mission would undertake in this regard, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Artsakh replied, “Naturally, they also understand all these complexities. Steps will be taken, as such actions require certain changes to be made to the security policies and measures.”

Regarding the actions of the Artsakh authorities, Babayan mentioned that necessary steps are being taken. “The primary actions are of course security measures and awareness steps; in other words, we must learn lessons from such incidents,” concluded David Babayan.