The Armenian Defense Ministry said Azerbaijani forces began shelling its positions near the border village of Sotk at 6 a.m. local time and four Armenian soldiers were wounded as a result. Armenian army units are taking “appropriate defensive-preventive measures” in response, said the ministry spokesman, Aram Torosian.
The intensity of the fighting eased after 10 a.m. and the situation at the border section was “relatively stable” early in the afternoon, Torosian reported afterwards.
Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry blamed the Armenian side for the ceasefire violation. It said that Armenian troops seriously wounded an Azerbaijani soldier overnight before opening mortar fire at Azerbaijani army positions in the mountainous area. Another Azerbaijani serviceman was killed in the morning skirmishes, according to the ministry.
Tensions in the area have run high for the past month. Armenia’s largest gold mine located near Sotk halted production operations in mid-April due to what its management and workers described as cross-border Azerbaijani gunfire. The village sustained heavy damage during more large-scale clashes that broke out at this and other border sections last September.
The latest escalation came just three days before talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev which European Council President Charles Michel is due to host in Brussels.
Pashinian claimed that Baku’s “provocative” actions are aimed at torpedoing the upcoming summit and “nullifying progress” made by the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers during marathon talks held outside Washington last week.
“Experience shows that Azerbaijan needs the negotiation process only to get an escalation and an excuse for war,” he charged during a weekly cabinet meeting in Yerevan.
At the same time, Pashinian said that he still intends to fly to Brussels for the planned trilateral meeting with Aliyev and Michel. He went on to stress that they are unlikely to sign an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty.
For its part, the Armenian Foreign Ministry accused Baku of trying to “exert pressure on Armenia” through the use of force.