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The downing of the Armenian helicopter had been planned by Azerbaijan in advance, Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan told reporters on Thursday.

According to the Minister, the helicopter was shot down during a training flight, in our territory, and this is a violation of all norms.

“They raise the level of their combat readiness during the military exercises, and I think that they had been instructed to shoot it down,” the official said.

The statement by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs on the helicopter downing is a result of the Armenian side’s diplomatic efforts, Mr Ohanyan said.

In his words, the diplomatic work of the Armenian side, the meetings with the OSCE Minsk Group members, Andrzej Kasprzyk and ICRC representatives yielded results and the Co-Chairs issued a statement urging Azerbaijan to permit the recovery of the bodies of the victims, and Armenia to cooperate fully with all efforts to resolve this humanitarian situation.

A MI-24 helicopter of the NKR Air Force was shot down on November 12 in the airspace in the eastern direction of the Karabakh-Azerbaijani border due to a ceasefire violation by the Azerbaijani armed forces. The area where the helicopter was shot down was at a very short distance from the Line of Contact. So far, the Armenian side has been unable to approach the downed helicopter because of heavy Azerbaijani fire.