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In another incident involving ongoing border tensions, Armenia and Azerbaijan exchanged fire on Tuesday in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is an area contested by the two countries. The exchange of fire resulted in casualties for both sides.
On Tuesday, defense ministers from both countries released statements regarding the incident and each confirmed that troops had been killed in a clash near the disputed Lachin Corridor. Both statements blamed the other side for initiating the dispute, Zerohedge reported.
"Armenian army positions deployed near the settlement of Dyg [at the countries' shared border] opened heavy fire at Azerbaijani army positions," the Azerbaijan Defense Ministry said in a statement.
"There are dead and wounded among Azerbaijani troops," the statement concluded.
Meanwhile, the Armenian Defense Ministry accused Azerjaiban of initiating hostilities. According to Reuters, 3 Azeri and 4 Armenian soldiers died in the fighting near the Lachin Corridor, which is a strategic road into Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia that passes through Azeri territory.
Since the end of last year, Azerbaijanis, who claim to be environmental protestors, have been blocking the Corridor. Armenia refers to the alleged protestors as government-supported agitators and has insisted that the blockade has caused a humanitarian crisis.
Numerous wars have been fought over the past 35 years by the 2 former Soviet Republics in an effort to gain control of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region is occupied by mainly ethnic Armenians but has been claimed by Azerbaijan.
A population of ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. An estimated 300,000 people died as a result of the following conflict.
Moscow was forced to deploy peacekeepers to the region in 2020 after large-scale fighting broke out during which thousands were killed and Azerbaijan gained considerable new territory.
Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, claimed last month that "fundamental problems" still exist between the two neighbors because "Azerbaijan is trying to put forward territorial claims, which is a red line to Armenia."
Pashinyan went on to say that "Azerbaijan's rhetoric is becoming more and more aggressive every day." He went on to explain that disruptions from Baku near the Lachin Corridor have been occurring for several months and claimed the disruptions were preparation for the "ethnic cleansing of Armenians."
