Armenia and Azerbaijan accused each other on Thursday (May 11th) of shooting at the border between these two Caucasus countries, leaving one dead and four wounded, a few days of talks scheduled between Baku and Yerevan in Brussels.
"A soldier of the Azerbaijani army was killed after a provocation by Armenian forces," the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said, accusing Armenia of firing "large-caliber weapons" at Azerbaijani positions on the border.
For its part, Armenia reported four injuries in the clashes, for which it blames Azerbaijan.
See also Closure of the Lachin corridor: Nagorno-Karabakh residents stranded in Armenia
"Azerbaijani forces are firing artillery and mortar at Armenian positions in the Sotk region," in eastern Armenia, the Armenian Defense Ministry said Thursday morning.
The incident comes as the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev, are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday for a meeting sponsored by the European Union.
The meeting follows intensive discussions in Washington in early May between the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations, under the auspices of the United States.
'Very little' chance of signing a peace deal
Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday accused Azerbaijan of seeking to "undermine the talks" in Brussels, while stressing that he was always ready to go. However, he said there was "very little" chance of signing a peace agreement with Azerbaijan at the meeting.
The draft peace agreement "is still at a very preliminary stage and it is too early to talk about a possible signature," the Armenian prime minister said.
The two Caucasus countries clashed in two wars in the early 1990s and in 2020 for control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region mostly populated by Armenians that seceded from Azerbaijan more than three decades ago.
Tensions, already high, redoubled when Baku announced on 23 April that it had installed a first road checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin corridor, the only axis linking Armenia to the separatist enclave, already subject to a months-long blockade that has caused shortages and power cuts.
Azerbaijan justified the installation of the roadblock on security grounds, while Yerevan called on Russian peacekeepers, deployed there since late 2020, to keep control of this vital road.
With AFP
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