Azerbaijan, Armenia Push Blame Over Shootout Before US Peace Talks

Armenia and Azerbaijan have accused each other of provoking a shootout along their troubled border before they are to hold US-mediated peace talks.

The incident occurred on Monday, hours before a meeting in Washington of Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov for another round of peace talks hosted by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

On Monday, Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian positions “in the eastern sector of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border”, the defence ministry in Yerevan said in a statement.

The statement said there were “no casualties, and the situation on the frontline was relatively stable”.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry for its part accused Armenian forces of shooting at the positions of Azerbaijani troops stationed at several locations on the frontier.

Six weeks of fighting in 2020 killed more than 6,500 people in both countries before a Russian-brokered truce ended the hostilities.

There have been frequent exchanges of fire at the Caucasus neighbours’ border since the 2020 war.

In September of this year, more than 280 people from both sides were killed in new clashes.