An Armenian soldier was shot and killed by Azerbaijani fire near Vardenis in Armenia on Saturday, Armenian media reported on Sunday, although the Armenian Defense Ministry has not issued an official statement on the incident.
Some of the reports identified the killed soldier as a 19-year-old from the village of Byurakan.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Armenian Service and Factor TV both reported that the Armenian Defense Ministry had confirmed the death of the soldier to them and had promised to provide further details "later."
As of Monday night, the Armenian Defense Ministry had not yet issued an official statement on the incident.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported on Saturday that Azerbaijani forces were targeted by fire from Armenian positions twice in one day near the border between the two countries. The Azerbaijani Army took "adequate retaliatory measures," according to the Defense Ministry.
While the Armenian Defense Ministry had issued statements in recent days denying similar claims by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry, it did not do so after the claims on Saturday.
Post-war reality
In 2020, a war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh and nearby areas, ending just over a month later with a new line of contact drawn and Russian peacekeepers deployed along the line. Sporadic clashes have been reported along the line since the war.
On April 6, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to hold peace talks to address tensions over the Nagorno-Karabakh area.