YEREVAN: Armenia and Azerbaijan on Thursday blamed each other for an exchange of fire along their restive border, which killed one person and wounded four days ahead of EU-hosted peace talks.Russia urged the sides to de-escalate tensions after the fatal exchange of fire, but its influence as a power broker in the region has waned since it launched its invasion of Ukraine last year.

Armenia initially said four of its soldiers had been wounded by incoming fire in an eastern region of the ex-Soviet country. “Azerbaijani forces are shooting artillery and mortars at Armenian positions in the Sotk region” the Armenia’s defence ministry said. Baku meanwhile accused Armenia of a “provocation” that had left one of its soldiers dead.

It said Armenian soldiers had “once again violated the ceasefire agreement” with “large-calibre weapons,” referring to an accord from November 2020 that ended six weeks of hostilities.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday: “We expect a restrained approach from the parties and urge them not to take any actions that could lead to an increase in tensions.”

Thursday’s flare up in fighting comes just days before European Council President Charles Michel is to host Armenia’s Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev for talks in Brussels.

The two leaders had also agreed to jointly meet the leaders of France and Germany on the sidelines of a European summit in Moldova on June 1, according to the EU.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023