YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) 鈥� 鈥檚 Defence Ministry reported Thursday that an Armenian soldier was wounded and in critical condition after being shot by Azerbaijani forces on the eastern section of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
Both sides accused each other of opening fire on border positions earlier in the week.
Azerbaijani President accused Armenia on Tuesday of not complying with the Russia-brokered peace agreement of November 2020 by not fully withdrawing its troops from the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenian Prime Minister said at a government meeting that Azerbaijan started a 鈥渇irefight鈥� in order 鈥渢o accuse Armenia.鈥� Also on Thursday, Pashinyan proposed the creation of a demilitarized zone of three kilometers (nearly two miles) around Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in other territories bordering .
The two sides held peace talks on Monday that were mediated by the United States. In October, Pashinyan and Aliyev 鈥渁greed not to use force鈥� to resolve their dispute during a hosted by President Vladimir Putin.
The ex-Soviet countries have been locked in a decades-old conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which is part of Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994.
During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan reclaimed broad swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh and adjacent territories held by Armenian forces. More than 6,700 people died in the fighting, which ended with a Russia-brokered peace agreement.
The truce was hailed as a victory in Azerbaijan, and was viewed as a humiliating defeat in Armenia. In September, Armenia and Azerbaijan negotiated a cease-fire to end a flare-up of fighting that killed 155 soldiers from both sides.
The Associated Press
