The Armenia Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Azerbaijani forces opened fire in mid-afternoon, using firearms of different calibers, against Armenian positions in the Sotk area in the eastern Gegharkunik province, as a result of which one Armenian soldier was wounded. It said the wound was not life-threatening.
“As of 4:30 p.m., the shooting was ongoing. As a result of the counter-actions carried out by the Armenian side, the adversary suffered one dead and one wounded,” the Armenian ministry said in a statement.
Armenia also reported clashes along the border with Azerbaijan also on Monday, saying they left two of its troops dead at different sections of the frontier, including the Yeraskh section of the border with Azerbaijan’s western exclave of Nakhijevan. Armenia has blamed all incidents on Azerbaijan, which, for its part, claimed that in all cases shooting was started by the Armenian side. Baku also denied any casualties among its military personnel claimed by Armenia.
Long-running tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno-Karabakh region turned into a large-scale war last year in which nearly 7,000 people were killed in six weeks of fighting that ended in a Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal.
Under the accord, a chunk of Nagorno-Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration.
The agreement also resulted in the deployment of around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor linking the Armenian-populated region with Armenia.
On August 14, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with CNN Turk television that his country did not want a new war with Armenia, as Baku has accomplished “its historic mission.”
Last week, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said Yerevan was ready to resume talks with Baku on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and expects specific proposals.