Polyansky commented on the death of Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh

Moscow took note of Baku’s readiness to investigate the death of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh, stated First Deputy Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Dmitry Polyansky at a meeting of the organization’s Security Council.

“Russian peacekeepers have once again taken a blow while fulfilling their duty. <...> “We took note of the readiness of the Azerbaijani side to immediately conduct a thorough investigation into this tragedy and bring those responsible to justice,” he said.

On September 20, Russian peacekeepers came under fire from the Azerbaijani military. The first incident occurred near the village of Janiyatag, when the military was returning from an observation post. Five servicemen who were in the car died. At the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan explainedthat the Azerbaijani military mistook the peacekeepers’ vehicle for the transport of Armenian military personnel “due to the difficult terrain” and weather conditions.

The second incident occurred near the same settlement, however, according to the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s Office, the peacekeepers were fired upon by “unidentified members of illegal Armenian armed formations.” One soldier was killed and another was wounded.

After this, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev brought apologized to his Russian colleague Vladimir Putin and promised that a “thorough investigation” would be carried out into this fact.

On September 19, Azerbaijan announced the start of “anti-terrorist measures” necessary for the “restoration of the constitutional order” in Nagorno-Karabakh.