More shots have been fired between Armenia and Azerbaijan at the ceasefire line

On March 26, Armenian and Azerbaijani sources reported armed clashes on the ceasefire line between the two hostile Caucasian republics. The Armenian Ministry of Defense stated that the Armenian military prevented engineering work by the Azerbaijani army on the border. It had come to a shootout which was allegedly triggered by the Azerbaijani military.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense also reported several incidents on the Karabakh ceasefire line, but not on the interstate border itself. According to the report, the Armenian forces were the trigger this time. In the Fuzuli area, an Azerbaijani soldier was killed by enemy fire.

This armed conflict took place just before the upcoming meeting between the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on 29 March in Vienna. This will be the first official meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan within the framework of the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group. On March 20, 2019, the Armenian Ministry of Defense stated that one month earlier an Armenian soldier had been wounded by the Azerbaijani military.

Since the meeting between Aliyev and Pashinyan in late September 2018 in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, there has been relative calm on the ceasefire line. In Tajikistan, the two heads of state agreed to set up a hotline between the two countries' military, a move welcomed by the international community.

 

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