‘They were flying drones, I covered myself in snow so they wouldn’t see me’: Soldier Lost in Azerbaijani Territory Shares His Experience

The area where I got lost is already familiar to me, and I passed through there to return to our side.

This was stated to 24News by Martiros Gyulambaryan, a contract soldier from the village of Khndzoresk in the Syunik region, who was found on the Azerbaijani side yesterday and returned today.

The soldier said that he got lost around 11:30 AM near the settlement of Akner (formerly known as Brun, immediately northwest of the village of Verishen) in the Goris community, near a 'vishki' (sentry post).

“It was foggy, and I reached their post; I saw that four people were approaching the vehicle (a Kamaz 114 truck), so I jumped out through the driver’s door. They opened one door, and I got behind them through the other door. I left the truck about 30 meters below position N. All night they were shining spotlights; it was foggy, and they couldn’t see me. I hid in a ravine, and in the morning Azerbaijani drones were hovering above the ravine. I covered myself with snow so they wouldn’t see me, and then they left. The drone first came near the ravine at 5 AM, then at 6, and finally at 7:15. They couldn’t figure it out; I was covered with snow,” the contract soldier added.

Martiros Gyulambaryan noted that the truck remained near the Azerbaijani side: “Since they couldn’t catch me, they aren’t returning the truck. Negotiations are being held through Russian peacekeepers and border guards. Volkov says, ‘Azerbaijan isn’t returning the truck’; they want to see what they will do.” According to the soldier, he could pass back to Armenian positions through another route around 11:00 AM, and he has no health issues, planning to return to service tomorrow.

Speaking about the gunfire directed towards Russian border guard vehicles during the search operations, Martiros Gyulambaryan said that he found out about that incident later: “I wasn’t there; I was talking—at Khoznavar (about 11 km north of Goris), while they were at the head of Brun.”

Yesterday, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia released a statement indicating that around 12:20 PM, a serviceman M.G. of the RA Armed Forces, while transporting food to a combat post, got lost in the terrain due to poor visibility and fog, and, according to initial reports, found himself in territory controlled by Azerbaijan. Today, news of the soldier's return became known.