President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan signed a decree today on awarding posthumously contractual serviceman Arman Yepremyan a medal “For Bravery.”

The serviceman killed on June 26 was awarded the medal for “the courage and self-sacrifice he displayed during the defense of the borders of his motherland.”

The Armenian Defense Ministry presented the details today.

“At around 6.30 pm on June 2, the Azerbaijani party violated the ceasefire in the direction of Nakhichevan on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, opening fire from arms of various calibers at Armenian positions close to Gorayk settlement in Syunik region. As a result of the retaliatory actions of the lookout positions of the Armenian Armed Forces the rival ceased fire. According to the data of the Defense Ministry, the separate general army of Nakhichevan incurred losses and had injured. Unfortunately, during the skirmish, contractual serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces, private Arman Yepremyan was fatally injured,” reads the press release.

“Such modus operandi of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces completely contradicts the spirit and logic of the negotiations aimed at the peaceful settlement of the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship and is fraught with a risk for dramatic destabilization the entire responsibility of which falls on the military and political leadership of Azerbaijan. The Armenian Defense Ministry calls the attention of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and the international community to the fact that the actions carried out by Azerbaijan and aimed at the escalation of the situation coincides with the completion of European Games in Baku and the anniversary of the formation of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, which reaffirms that this country goes on with its bellicose policy and which reasserts the need for controlling the situation on the contact line, building trust and investigation mechanisms of the incidents repeatedly put forwards by the international community and adopted by Armenia.

We also call on the Azerbaijani party to refrain from provocative measures aimed at the further escalation of situation and to commit efforts to continue to preserve the relatively calm situation established on the border during the entire European Games,” reads the press release of the Armenian Defense Ministry.