Deadly shots were fired again on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. An Armenian soldier was killed by a sniper shot from Azerbaijan, the Armenian Ministry of Defense said today.
Azerbaijan, in turn, accused Armenia of using „large-caliber machine guns and sniper rifles“ and having broken a ceasefire at the border several times in the past 24 hours.
There have been repeated border fights between the Azerbaijani and Armenian armies in recent weeks. It has been the heaviest battle between the two hostile neighboring countries since 2016. According to official figures, a total of at least 19 people have been killed on both sides so far.
Decade-old conflict
The two South Caucasus republics, Armenia and Azerbaijan, have been in conflict over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region for almost 30 years. Nagorno-Karabakh, which is mostly inhabited by Armenians, was struck in Azerbaijan during the Soviet era. Pro-Armenian rebels took control of the area in the late 1980s. Nagorno-Karabakh proclaimed its independence in 1991, but the area is still not recognized internationally as an independent state.
Russia and western countries have called on the two countries to de-escalate in the past few weeks. Russia, which has been the protective power of the small mountain region of Armenia for years, and Turkey too want to mediate in the face of the new struggles. Turkey has sided with the oil-rich Azerbaijan.
