Russian Border Guards Played Direct Role in Preventing Escalation in Nerqin Hand: Kopirkin

The Russian border guards have played a direct role in preventing escalation in Nerqin Hand. This was stated by Sergey Kopirkin, the Russian ambassador to Armenia, in an interview with Sputnik Armenia, commenting on the recent incident near the village of Nerqin Hand and the statements made by Secretary of the Security Council Armen Grigoryan.

Armen Grigoryan had declared that Russia, unlike the EU monitoring mission, has access to the border areas of Nerqin Hand, but nonetheless, Russia could not prevent the incident. The Russian ambassador believes that the critical remarks directed at Russia are excessively one-sided. He questions what is meant by the phrase 'could not prevent.'

'Of course, the official investigation results (regarding the incident near the village – ed.), as mentioned by the Armenian side, have not yet been published, but media reports have already indicated that the initiation of the incident stemmed from gunfire by the Armenian side. Moreover, the shooter was not even a soldier but a member of the Volunteer Corps. This is probably a question of discipline among the volunteers. It is known that Russian border guards have played a direct role in preventing escalation,' he noted.

The diplomat considers it dishonest to blame the border guards for not preventing the incident. And when Kopirkin looks at this criticism within the broader context of Russian peacekeepers and border guards facing massive criticism, especially juxtaposed with the Armenian side's lack of preparedness to work with Russia on issues of regional resolution, he is certainly left with questions.

Recall that on February 13, starting from 5:30 AM, Azerbaijani Armed Forces began firing with firearms towards Armenian positions located in the Nerqin Hand area. The Armenian side reports 4 fatalities and 1 injury.