Armenia will 'neutralize Azerbaijani snipers through military measures:' Defense Ministry

Armenia's Defense Ministry has issued a statement over the killing of an Armenian soldier by an Azerbaijani sniper late on Thursday.

"The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia strongly condemns Azerbaijan's adventures to exacerbate the situation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani contact line by the use of snipers," reads the statement.

It comes after Vitaly Ashot Igityan, 22, a temporary soldier at the military unit N38401, was around 7 p.m. on 14 October killed by an Azerbaijani sniper at an outpost deployed in the south-eastern part of the contact line between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

Further the statement says that by such actions shortly after the OSCE Field Assessment Mission in the territories surrounding Nagorno Karabakh "Azerbaijan proves that not only it does not follow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's calls to remove the snipers from the contact line, but also ignores the concerns of the OSCE Minsk Group chairman-in-office and the OSCE co-chairs over the deaths caused by Azerbaijani snipers."

With those acts Baku also attempts to hinder the efforts by the international community, aimed at the peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

"The Defense Ministry of the Republic of Armenia announces that military-diplomatic and relevant military measure to neutralize the activities of the Azerbaijani snipers on the Armenian-Azerbaijani line of contact," read the statement.

Further the Defense Ministry said it conveyed its deepest condolences to the relatives of Vitali Igityan.