YEREVAN (A.W.)—Armenia’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) recently released documents that indicate that Azerbaijani forces planned large-scale military operations days in advance of their April 2-5 attacks on the Nagorno-Karabagh Republic (NKR/Artsakh). The documents were retrieved from a downed Azerbaijani helicopter on the night of April 1-2, according to a press statement by the Armenian MoD on April 16.

The details of the documents were revealed during a MoD meeting with military attaches of foreign embassies in Yerevan. According to the ministry, the documents belonging to the Azerbaijani crew prove that the downed helicopter was transported to the Line of Contact (LoC) from an airport near Baku with clear instructions to attack specific Armenian targets. According to the head of the aviation department of the MoD, Avetik Muradyan, a notebook that had been in the possession of the pilot contained notes from March 31 that detailed instructions about the flight mission, which suggests that the pilot had received instructions about the flight 1-2 days in advance, reported Armenpress news.

Muradyan added that the mission was to hit nine targets consecutively, which the crew failed to accomplish. The pilot also failed to fire the guided anti-tank missiles, instead relying on the cannon. “This is proof, which any military expert will accept as reality. This proves that the adversary planned in advance its operations, instructed the pilots in advance, and received precise targets,” Muradyan was quoted as saying.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces violated the ceasefire agreement several times on April 16, firing various caliber weapons on Armenian positions, especially in the northeastern (Martakert) direction of the LoC. According to a press statement released by the NKR Ministry of Defense, Azerbaijani forces fired at least three 82-mm shells. Two days earlier, on April 14, Armenian servicemen Manvel Grigoryan and Hamlet Hajoyan (b. 1970) were killed by Azerbaijani fire on the eastern (Martuni) and northeastern (Talish) directions on the LoC.