Three Criminal Cases for One Downed Helicopter

Baku / 19.11.20 / Turan: On November 9 (2020), on the territory of Armenia near the village of Yeraskh, at a distance of 150 meters from the Azerbaijani military post in Nakhchivan, a serviceman of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces shot down a Russian military helicopter MI-24 with a shot from a MANPAD. Two were killed and one pilot was wounded, carrying out the task of air escorting a military convoy.

The next day, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry announced that the Russian helicopter was shot down by the Azerbaijani military "in the light of the tense situation in the region and increased combat readiness in connection with possible provocations of the Armenian side."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan explained that the flight of the helicopter took place in the immediate vicinity of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border against the background of ongoing hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. It was also noted in Baku that the helicopter flew in the dark and that the aircraft of the Russian Air Force had not previously been seen in the area.

 Official Baku has expressed apologies and condolences to the families of the killed pilots to V. Putin, promising to conduct an investigation and punish those responsible for the Azerbaijani army. Judging by the fact that this topic was not raised by the Kremlin anymore, Vladimir Putin accepted the apology.

The Armenian side made a statement. “The helicopter was not on a combat course, therefore it could not be perceived as a threat,” Vagharshak Harutyunyan, chief adviser to the Armenian Prime Minister, told RBC. He called the incident "an act of aggression on the territory of Armenia." The General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia opened a criminal case.

In Russia, this incident is being promoted by anti-Azerbaijani political forces and in the media. Channel One TV presenter Olga Skabeeva demands to extradite the Azerbaijani serviceman to Russia. Commenting on her demand, the Azerbaijani forum members parry: let Putin first hand over to Azerbaijan the perpetrators of the Baku tragedy of January 20, 1990, when the Soviet army shot 138 civilians.

The third criminal case on the downed helicopter was initiated in Baku by the General Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan, on charges of "negligence". Detention or arrest of the Azerbaijani servicemen was not reported, as well as the results of the investigation are not known to the public. It is not clear from the official statement of the Prosecutor General's Office what the negligence of the serviceman, who mistook the helicopter flying through the territory of Armenia for an enemy one, and shot it down during the November war, could be. He could not have known that the post was threatened by a helicopter of the RF Armed Forces. Moreover, as the Azerbaijani side officially stated, Russian military vehicles did not fly in this airspace earlier. Air defense systems of Azerbaijan did not record this helicopter. The Azerbaijani soldier had no other choice but to urgently neutralize the "Armenian", who turned out to be unexpectedly "Russian".

On November 12, the alarming situation around the downed helicopter suddenly became clear. Military investigators from the Russian military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri opened a criminal case. The Russian media reported that the investigators saw signs of a violation of Article 351 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Violation of the rules of flights or preparation for them." This article of the Criminal Code states that "violation of the rules of flights or preparation for them or other rules for the operation of military aircraft, which inadvertently entailed the death of a person or other grave consequences, is punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years."

Russian investigators carried out initial investigative actions, examined the scene of the incident, ordered several expert examinations, including a flight and technical one, a source told Interfax. According to the agency’s interlocutor, “during the investigation of the case, most likely, it will be rearranged into a more serious one.” It is obvious that the investigation saw a violation in the flight rules during hostilities and in the war zone.

The case of the downed helicopter is being discussed by Russian military experts. On bmpd.livejournal.com, the expert Gunnerminer wrote on November 11:

- The Russian command, directing the convoy at night, did not warn the Azerbaijani military in advance, though it had communication channels, and moreover, was providing defense for the column by helicopter. Flimsy attempts to justify this - "outside the combat zone, etc." - are excuses at the level of a pre-conscript, not an officer. If we were not talking about the Russian Armed Forces, I would say that this is a provocation. But in this case, this is sheer stupidity. Why did they do this? I think the chief who made such a decision, together with his chief of staff, are obliged to act as the officer's honor requires. And the statement of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry speaks of the unintentional destruction of the helicopter: "The Azerbaijani side apologizes to the Russian side in connection with this tragic incident, which is accidental and was not directed against the Russian side," the expert quoted the official Baku statement.

The military expert Vugar Abbasov served in the USSR Air Defense Forces. At the request of Turan, he analyzed the incident.

“Putin said that I. Aliyev would conduct a thorough investigation and punish those responsible for the incident that led to the crash of the Russian helicopter. I hope the Russian President gave Aliyev the authority to punish the head of the Russian Air Force's aviation in Armenia. I, as I have been on duty more than one hundred times as the chief of the combat shift in the air defense and missile defense forces, admit the blame of the Russian commander as "50-50".

Investigators of Azerbaijan cannot unilaterally sort it out without all the materials of the case, half of which are located on the territory of Armenia, without materials of means of objective control on both sides. There is no information between the military dispatching services of the Russian Group of Forces in Armenia and the Azerbaijan Separate Combined Arms Army in Nakhchivan. There is no information of the flight missions or orders to the crew of the combat helicopter. There is also no information on the orders and the combat mission to organize the march of the military column, which was protected by the helicopter. This can only be done by a plenipotentiary intergovernmental commission of inquiry.

I have a feeling that Vladimir Putin wants, frankly speaking, to make Ilham Aliyev fully recognize Azerbaijan’s guilt under pressure. And this is ugly. I hope the President of Azerbaijan foresaw this and will be able to translate the situation into a constructive channel. If there really is a fault of the Azerbaijani air defense officers who shot down the combat attack helicopter near their combat positions on the border of the front, then the President will make an appropriate decision. If not, he will vigorously protest,” the expert Vugar Abbasov said.

“For complete clarity, you need to know what combat mission was assigned to the Azerbaijani soldiers with a MANPAD. Maybe they were told not to answer at all if Armenian planes bombed Nakhchivan. But in a normal situation, the soldier is absolutely right. If he detects an air target, via the available communication lines, he immediately reports up and requests an order. But if the air attack vehicle has approached the line of use of strike weapons, if the regular radio inquirer for the "friend or foe" password of the MANPAD itself issues an "alien" signal, he must shoot without permission, according to the combat mission that he receives when he is on duty to protect the air boundaries of his unit," added Vugar Abbasov.

MP Rasim Musabekov does not agree with the version that the incident with the helicopter was rigged by Armenia specifically to disrupt the prepared plan of surrender of the Armenians. In an interview with Turan, he admitted that some kind of impact could have been, in any case, the helicopter story pushed the measures being prepared in advance to resolve the conflict and end the war. “The peace statement was prepared prior to this incident. The Armenian side hastened to open a criminal case and accuse Azerbaijan. But an apology came from Baku and readiness was expressed to pay compensation to the families of the killed pilots. Moscow accepted the apology, so the incident is over,” R. Musabekov summed up.-0-