Russia’s Defense Ministry on Monday confirmed that Azerbaijani forces breached the ceasefire in the Sotk village of Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province. As a result of this latest attack, an Armenian soldier was injured.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that in the past 24 hours they recorded one incident of ceasefire violation committed by the Azerbaijani military in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers in Gegharkunik province’s Sotk section, which led to one serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces being wounded.
It said that the peacekeeping command, working with the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides, resolved the incident and that “violations of the line of contact of the sides were not allowed.” The latest attack on Armenian military targets by Azerbaijan occurred on Sunday.
Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported that 20-year-old Nver Gevorgyan was wounded during the Azerbaijani attack on Armenia positions in Sotk on Saturday evening. The incident was reported by official Yerevan on Sunday.
The incident on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border comes after a week-long attack by Azerbaijani forces on Artsakh Defense Army positions in and around the Berdzor (Lachin) region. On Wednesday, two Artsakh soldiers were killed and another 19 were wounded—some in critical condition. On Monday, the defense ministry told Azatutyun.am that two of the injured soldiers were released from the hospital.
Throughout last week, the Russian defense ministry, on three separate occasions, issued statements blaming Azerbaijan for continued ceasefire violations.
Last week’s military attacks forced Artsakh authorities to tell residents of the Aghavno village in Artsakh’s Berdzor (Lachin) region to evacuate their homes by August 25, the scheduled date when that village, too, will be conceded to Azerbaijan.
On Monday, the Artsakh Defense Army denied reposts by Azerbaijani that its forces have attacked the enemy’s positions.
“The statement issued by the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense saying that the Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh violated the ceasefire is false,” the Artsakh Defense Ministry said.
“No significant incidents took place overnight on August 7 and 8, as of 9 a.m. local time. Despite the relative stability, tensions still remain. In some directions, the Azerbaijani military again violated the ceasefire by firing various-caliber small arms. Work continues to be done together with the Russian peacekeeping contingent in direction of further stabilizing the situation,” it added.