Azerbaijani MOD confesses they shot down Russian helicopter “accidentally,” apologizes to Russia

Azerbaijani defense ministry said their armed forces have accidentally shot down Russian military MI-24 helicopter and offered their apologies to the Russian side.

The Azeri ministry explained it with being dark and that the helicopter was near Armenian-Azerbaijani border flying low and that they did not see helicopters of the Russian military air force in the territory before.

“In the pre-context of these factors and the tensed situation in the region and the possible speculations of the Armenian side, the military personnel on duty made a decision to open fire,” the Azeri MOD said in a released statement, apologizing to the Russian side for “tragic incident of accidental nature which was not addressed against the Russian side.”

The Azeri side offered condolences to the families of the killed personnel, wished recovery to the wounded and expressed readiness to pay relevant compensation.