At 5.46 p.m. (local time) on February 25, 1999, fighter MiG-29 of the Russian Federation Air Force violated air space of the Republic of Azerbaijan over the district of Kelbajar, penetrating air space of Azerbaijan for 15 km. Forces of air defense of Azerbaijan were brought to combat alert. At 5.48 the Russian military aircraft left the Azerbaijan's air-space.

Deserving special attention is the fact that the violation took place in the Kelbajar district of the Republic of Azerbaijan occupied by the armed forces of the Republic of Armenia.

In connection to this incident the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan is authorized to make the following statement:

Azerbaijan has more than once drawn attention of the leadership of the Russian Federation to the fact that Russian military build-up in the South Caucasus does not contribute to strengthening peace and stability in the region where numerous conflicts take place. Furthermore, Russia, being, along with the United States of America and France, a mediator in the settlement of the Armenia - Azerbaijani conflict, the most lingering one in the region, during recent years has been unilaterally arming one of the parties to the conflict - Republic of Armenia. The latter has perpetrated military aggression against the Republic of Azerbaijan and occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani territories.

These facts, long-known to the broad international community, contradict the provisions of the UN Security Council resolutions, which prohibit shipping arms and military equipment into the area of the Armenia-Azerbaijani conflict. Such actions are considered a contribution to the conflict's escalation and to undermining peace process.

Despite numerous statements of Russian officials that the Russian Federation has stopped shipping arms to Armenia and that the Russian arms and military equipment on the territory of the Republic of Armenia pursue solely defensive goals, facts prove the opposite to be right.

Leaving aside the deliberations of Russians and Armenians on defensive designation of MiG-29 military air-crafts, which are world-known to be among the most sophisticated modern planes, the Azerbaijan Foreign Affairs Ministry draws attention to the recent statement of the Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief general A.Kornukov, made upon the arrival of Russian military delegation led by him, in Yerevan on February 17, 1999. "These shipments are being made with a consideration of a threat from a neighboring state," said Kornukov, when talking about the transfer of S-300 "ground-to-air" missiles to the Russian military base in Armenia. "We can not rule out a possibility of erroneous - or, maybe under the pretext of being erroneous - intrusion into the air space of a sovereign state, which is a party to the Collective Security Treaty."

Regardless of which neighboring state that allegedly produces the threat general Kornukov had in mind, it turns out that Russia claiming to defend air space of its ally, for this instance - Armenia, can allow to violate the air space of another sovereign state, Azerbaijan. This is the case with Russia, whose military air-craft violated air space of the Republic of Azerbaijan on February 25, 1999.

It is known that the Republic of Armenia will join the duties within the united system of air defense, and if an incident like the one on February 25 will be committed by Armenia, country which is in a state of military conflict with Azerbaijan, possible consequences of such an incident will be hard to predict, especially given the mutual Russia - Armenia military commitments.

Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Azerbaijan hopes that the Russian side will undertake all measures necessary to prevent such incidents from re-occurring in the future.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan deems it necessary to re-iterate that the developments connected to the unilateral ra-armament of Armenia, to which Russia is of immediate relation, are fraught with unpredictable consequences for the region of South Caucasus.

Baku, February 27, 1999