YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Major Yuri Ishchyuk and Senior Lieutenant Roman Fedin were devoted servicemen who fell while fulfilling their allied obligations to ensure the security of the Republic of Armenia, ARMENPRESS reports Deputy Minister of the Territorial Administration and Infrastructure of Armenia Hovhannes Harutyunyan said during the solemn opening ceremony of the monument to the officers of the Russian helicopter shot down by Azerbaijan unveiled, in fact, questioning the claim of the Azerbaijani side that the shooting down of the Russian helicopter in the airspace of Armenia was "accidental".

“This tragic incident, which the Azerbaijani side calls "accidental," took place outside the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, where no military clashes have taken place. And today we are present at the opening of a monument, which eternalizes the memory of pilots Major Yuri V. Ishchyuk and Senior Lieutenant Roman V. Fedin, two devoted servicemen who fell while fulfilling allied obligations to ensure Armenia's security’’, the Deputy Minister said, expressing solidarity with the family members and relatives of the killed servicemen.

The opening ceremony of the monument took place in the village of Yeraskh, Ararat Province of the Republic of Armenia, on the initiative of the "MIR" International Humanitarian Foundation.

The event was also attended by Ararat Governor Razmik Tyonyan, Commander of the Armenian-Russian Joint Troops, Lieutenant General Tigran Parvanyan, MPs Armen Khachatryan, Arman Yeghoyan, Head of "MIR" IHF Andranik Nikoghosyan, President of the Eurasian Women's Union Naira Charchyan, politicians Edmon Marukyan, Arman Abovyan, Luiza Sargsyan and others.

A Russian Mi-24 military helicopter was shot down over Armenia near the border with Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, the day of signing the trilateral declaration on ending the war in Nagorno Karabakh. Two crewmembers died and the third pilot was wounded. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry admitted that the helicopter had been shot down by the Azeri armed forces by mistake and stated Baku was ready to pay compensation to Moscow over the incident.