The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassadors Igor Popov of the Russian Federation, James Warlick of the United States and Pierre Andrieu of France) said Wednesday, Nov 19, they remain deeply concerned that there has been no humanitarian access to the crash site of the military helicopter downed by Azerbaijani forces on Nov 12.

The wreckage of the helicopter lies in a heavily mined area of neutral territory on the line of contact, they said.

“We call on the sides to cease firing in the vicinity of the crash site and facilitate the demining of the area surrounding the site. In the spirit of the Astrakhan statement of October 2010 between the Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia, the Co-chairs urge Azerbaijan to permit the recovery of the bodies of the victims, and Armenia to cooperate fully with all efforts to resolve this humanitarian situation. We note the presence of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and his team in the region, and encourage the sides to use his good offices to allow access,” the Co-chairs said in a statement.

“We reaffirm our November 12 statement, reminding the sides of their responsibilities to respect the ceasefire and honor the commitments they made in Sochi, Newport, and Paris to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” they said.

Mi-24 helicopter was shot down during a training flight as part of drills held jointly by Armenia and Artsakh.

The NKR State Commission on prisoners of war, hostages and the missing persons of the appealed to the International Committee of Red Cross mission in the NKR with regards to the fate of the crewmembers, one of whom could possibly survive the crash. However, Azerbaijan continued to keep the site under fire.

Azerbaijan has not provided security guarantees to the OSCE Mission for investigation of crash site.