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Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Nikolay Bordyuzha made a statement in connection with the NKR Air Force helicopter downed by Azerbaijani side on November 12. He noted that the destruction of the helicopter is a dangerous manifestation of violence. The statement was posted on the organization's website.

As it is noted in the statement, a helicopter performing a training flight was destroyed on November 12 by the Azerbaijani side in the Karabakh conflict zone. The helicopter crew was killed. He also noted that this dangerous incident provokes further infusion of situation in the region and intensifies the concerns.

"During 2014 on the Azerbaijani and Karabakh contact line, as well as on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border sensibly constant incidents have been recorded. 1,500 times the ceasefire has been violated during three months in summer. At the same time they were firing at direction of the human settlements and the civilian population. In some cases reconnaissance and sabotage groups crossed the ceasefire line; this was accompanied by violence and the deaths of civilians. Today we witnessed a new violation of ceasefire. The destruction of helicopter is a dangerous manifestation of violence," he noted.

According to him there is a threat of a new round of escalation.

"The situation in the South Caucasus is becoming more acute. We are deeply convinced in necessity of preventing the threatening development of the situation. The main thing that can prevent such a turn of events is the rejection of the use of force, close adherence to the ceasefire and the avoidance of provocative actions. It is important to ensure the continuation of the negotiations on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement," Nikolay Bordyuzha stated.

As NKR Defense Ministry press service reported earlier, on November 12, at around 1:45 pm, Nagorno Karabakh Air Forces’ Mi-24 helicopter was shot by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during military training flight in the airspace in the eastern section of Karabakh – Azerbaijan Line of Contact. The land, on which the incident occurred, is in close proximity to the line of contact. Opponent after the incident continued intense bombardment scene from weapons of different caliber. The place where the helicopter was shot is close to the Line of Contact. The enemy continued to fire shots from weapons of different calibers after the incident.