New clashes broke out on the border of Azerbaijan and Armenia

Armenia and Azerbaijan are talking about new clashes on the border near the Lachin corridor, which is controlled by Russian peacekeepers. There are dead.

The Armenian Defense Ministry says that at about 4 p.m. local time, the Armenian military were fired at near the village of Teh on Armenian territory near the Azerbaijani town of Lachin, past which the road connecting Armenia with the part of Karabakh where Armenians continue to live passes. Russian peacekeepers control this road and the Armenian enclave. 

The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan states that the positions of Azerbaijani troops near Lachin itself were shelled by Armenia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan report that there are dead and wounded on their side, the BBC reports. 

The village of Tech is located nine kilometers from Lachin in a straight line. About half of this way, the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers begins. 

The peacekeepers were introduced there under the agreement of November 2020, which was signed by Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. They control that part of the territory of Karabakh where Armenians live. Earlier, the city of Lachin, on the way to Karabakh, was occupied by the Armenian side, but was returned under the aforementioned agreement when Azerbaijan won the 44-day war in the fall of 2020. 

Since then, the parties have been trying to agree on where the border runs between them, using Soviet maps of different years. For more than 30 years of military conflict, the parties have not been able to begin the demarcation of these territories. 

The Azerbaijani side, which has a military advantage, has been accused more than once of trying to seize the territory of Armenia. So, in May 2021, apparently, the Azerbaijani military advanced several kilometers deep into Armenia. And last September, the biggest clashes since the last war took place on the border, claiming dozens of lives on both sides. 

The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia stated at the end of March that, according to its calculations, in the area of Kornidzor (the village next to Teh), the Azerbaijani side advanced at least five points deep into the territory of Armenia at a distance of 100 to 300 meters. Residents of the village of Tech said that the Azerbaijanis have been staying in the territory belonging to the village for two weeks and are carrying out engineering work there. 

This territory turned out to be problematic for border guards from both sides. A week ago, referring to the situation in the village of Teh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the locations of border guards on seven kilometers out of 12 have already been determined, and work continues on five kilometers. He said then that the situation had partially improved.