Armenia condemns Azerbaijan's border provocations

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Anna Naghdalyan has issued a statement on recent ceasefire violations by Azerbaijan, which left an Armenian soldier dead and two others wounded.

"On July 27 and 28, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan undertook provocative actions in the North-Eastern section of the state border of the Republic of Armenia with the involvement of snipers, which resulted in the death of the serviceman of the Armed Forces of Armenia Arman Bulghadaryan and wounding of two servicemen," Naghdalyan's statement said.

"Intentional and provocative violations of ceasefire by Azerbaijan is in contradiction to the commitments on adhering to and strengthening the ceasefire, which most recently have also been reconfirmed on the level of the leaders of the two countries during the Vienna summit on March 29. Those violations also defy the statement issued by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs following the meeting between the Foreign Ministers on June 20, wherein they called on parties to strictly observe the ceasefire and to refrain from any provocative action, including the use of snipers, along the line of contact and the international border.

"We strongly condemn these provocations which claimed human lives and are accompanied by Azerbaijan’s rejection to undertake confidence and security building measures aimed at observing and strengthening the ceasefire. These actions create a risk of escalation the full responsibility of which lies on the Azerbaijani side."

An soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces, Arman Bulghadaryan (b. 1995) was killed in Azerbaijan's ceasefire violations along the border on Sunday, July 28.

Earlier, two other Armenian servicemen had been wounded in cross-border shooting by Azerbaijani troops.