Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said preliminary information indicates there was dense fog and that it is not established whether the Azerbaijani soldier intended to cross into Armenia. He made the remarks during Infocom’s Ctrl Z program.
Addressing the possibility of exchanging the Azerbaijani soldier for Armenians held in Baku, the prime minister said there is an agreement to treat cases involving soldiers crossing the border separately from all other cases.
“Suppose we say, give us one of the detainees so we can hand over this soldier. Tomorrow, a soldier from our side may cross over — who would we give then?” he said, according to 1lurer.am .
Pashinyan said it should be taken into account that the terrain is very difficult.
“You know, we have border defenses, and Azerbaijan does too. There have been crossings from the Azerbaijani side and from our side as well. It must be taken into account that the terrain is very difficult. Search operations were conducted for several days, using drones from both sides, but he was not found because the terrain is very difficult and it is easy to take cover there. Of course, an investigation must be conducted to understand in detail how it happened that he crossed,” Pashinyan said.
Asked why residents of Shaki had not been informed about the soldier’s disappearance so they could be prepared, he replied that there had been no evidence or certainty that the soldier had entered Armenian territory, since soldiers sometimes leave their positions without authorization.
“Providing such information without any evidence that the soldier was on Armenian territory would mean that we were giving false information. The Azerbaijani side had informed us in advance, search operations were carried out, and during those operations the relevant Armenian and Azerbaijani services were in contact every day. There was no evidence that the soldier had crossed into Armenian territory and could reach a populated area.
“Imagine a press release saying that a soldier had crossed the border, then he was not found for a month, while the soldier was somewhere in Azerbaijan. An atmosphere of panic would have had to be maintained for months,” Pashinyan said.
The prime minister said video surveillance systems are installed at high density along the entire Armenian border, but in conditions of dense fog, those systems may not function.
“An investigation into the matter is underway now, and it will establish what happened. According to preliminary information, there was dense fog, and it is not a fact that the Azerbaijani soldier intended to enter Armenia; he may have become lost and crossed into Armenia,” he said.
He also said the serviceman is a deserter and that a criminal case has also been opened against him in Azerbaijan.
“But the procedures under our criminal case will take place in Armenia. He will remain in Armenia for at least some time and serve his sentence,” Pashinyan said.
Addressing the possibility of exchanging the Azerbaijani serviceman for Armenians held in Baku, the prime minister said: “There have been cases when a soldier crossed over, did nothing, committed no crime, and we returned the soldier. If we make the return of a soldier who crossed after getting lost conditional on the return of a detainee, a soldier from our side could also cross over — then who would we give in order to get our soldier back? The stories that there was a sabotage operation, that three people crossed, or that there were ten people, are absolute nonsense,” Pashinyan said.
