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Smoke can be seen from the Armenian border area (in September 2023)
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IMAGO/Ashley Chan/IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
After weeks of relative calm, new military clashes have broken out on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Both sides accuse each other of firing shots. According to the Defense Ministry in Yerevan, four Armenian soldiers were killed. The Defense Ministry in Baku said that Armenian troops attacked a village in northeastern Azerbaijan on Monday evening.
"Four soldiers were killed and one injured by fire on Armenian positions by Azerbaijani troops," said the Armenian Defense Ministry. The incident occurred near the village of Nerkin Hand. The Azerbaijani border troops, for their part, said the attack was a “response” to a “provocation” by Armenian troops. An Azerbaijani soldier was injured on Monday evening.
Russia, which has long been considered Armenia's protective power, called on the two countries to show restraint. In the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Yerevan repeatedly accused the Kremlin of lacking support.
The neighboring Caucasus republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan have been enemies for decades, particularly because of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which belongs to Azerbaijan under international law. Azerbaijan took Nagorno-Karabakh completely under its control in a large-scale military offensive in September last year. As a result, almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh's ethnic Armenians, including more than 100,000 people, fled to Armenia.
In December, the two countries exchanged prisoners of war and negotiations for a peace agreement are currently underway. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev had originally promised to sign a peace treaty by the end of 2023. However, there has so far been no breakthrough in the talks under international mediation.
aeh/AFP/Reuters