Armenia is ready to submit proofs of Azerbaijan's sabotage to the OSCE Minsk Group, David Tonoyan, First Deputy Minister of Defense of Armenia, told reporters commenting on the reports that Azerbaijani officials refute the fact of the sabotage.
He thinks it would be strange if Azerbaijan displayed another stance on the issue. If the sabotage was a provocation to increase tension in the conflict zone ahead of the meeting of the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers, it can be considered 'successful,' irrespective of its results.
"We are ready to submit the weapons and clothing found in the area of the incident to the OSCE Minsk Group and OSCE CiO's Personal Representative Andrjey Kasprzyk," Tonoyan said. He said that the Investigation Service of the Armenian Defense Ministry has initiated a criminal case on the fact of simultaneous attempts of penetration by subversive groups of the enemy on January 19-20 night in the northeast (Jraberd) and southeast (Korgan) of the line of contact of the armed forces of Karabakh and Azerbaijan.
"The manpower on the combat positions were interrogated and their testimonies also confirm the fact of penetration by a subversive group," the deputy minister said.
To recall, Azerbaijani subversive groups attempted to penetrate into the combat positions of the NKR Defense Army in the area of Jraberd, the northeast of contact line of the Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, on Jan 19-20 night, according to the Arstakh Defense Ministry. The attempts of subversive action were prevented. Junior Sergeant Armen Hovhannissyan was killed in the crossfire.
Hovhannisyan was posthumously awarded Medal For Courage. The enemy intensively fired at the Karabakh positions along the entire line of contact also on January 20-21.