Armenian Border Village Reportedly Hit Again By Azeri Gunshots

“Everyone is scared,” Kamel Ohanyan, a woman from Khnatsakh, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.

Another local resident, who did not want to be identified, claimed that more local houses have been damaged by gunshots than is acknowledged by the Defense Ministry in Yerevan.

The ministry has consistently downplayed the truce violations, saying that they are largely “irregular” and “off-target.” Deputy Defense Minister Arman Sargsian stuck to this line when he spoke with journalists on Monday.

“The shootings that sometimes occur are unaimed, undirected shots, and I can say they are few in number,” said Sargsian.

The cross-border gunfire, which has also been heard by residents of several other Armenian border villages in the last two weeks, began days after Baku started accusing Armenian troops of violating the ceasefire regime on a virtually daily basis. The accusations denied by the Armenian military followed official announcements on March 13 that the two conflicting sides have bridged their differences on the text of a bilateral peace treaty. Baku has made it clear that it will not sign the treaty without securing more Armenian concessions.

Armenian opposition figures have accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government of underreporting the situation along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. They say the government is reluctant to admit that unilateral concessions already made by Pashinyan will not end the conflict with Azerbaijan anytime soon.