The missile attack on a Russian military helicopter caused the first acknowledged deaths for neighboring powers in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry apologized on Monday for what it said was the accidental shooting down a Russian military helicopter, killing two crew members in an incident that threatened to draw Russia more deeply into an already escalating war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is backing Azerbaijan in the conflict, while Russia has a mutual defense treaty with Armenia. Both Russia and Turkey have denied any direct role in the fighting, and Russia has sought to broker a cease-fire. But the two countries are already at odds in wars in Syria and Libya, raising the risk that the fighting in the Caucasus could mushroom into a wider conflict. The attack on the helicopter was the first publicly known instance of Russian soldiers dying in the war. It came a day after Azerbaijan claimed a tactical victory in the fighting with the capture of a mountaintop town.
