Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday exchanged accusations of shelling each other's military positions in their border area.
The Armenian Defense Ministry said that Azerbaijani forces had shelled positions in Tavush and Gegharkunik provinces.
"On April 5th, at 5:05 pm [13:05 GMT] in Chinari village (Tavush Province) and at 5:30 pm in Verin Shorzha (Gegharkunik Province), the units of the Azerbaijani armed forces opened fire from small arms toward Armenian combat positions," the ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that Armenian forces had opened fire on positions in the direction of Munjuglu settlement of Tovuz region.
"At about 5:25 pm [13:25 GMT] the Armenian armed forces units from the positions in the direction of Chinarli settlement of Berd region using small arms subjected to fire the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the direction of Munjuglu settlement of Tovuz region," a ministry's statement read.
Baku said that Armenian forces had tried to "conduct work for the purpose of engineering improvement of a trench in front of the Azerbaijan Army positions." Yerevan called this statement "another disinformation."
A number of Azerbaijani media, such as the Axar news portal, published what they say was footage of Armenian armed forces moving towards the border with Azerbaijan, and claimed that Armenia was amassing military hardware in the southeastern border region of Syunik, part of the so-called Zangezur area.
Yerevan has yet to comment on these reports. Several Armenian media outlets claimed the footage was old.
Earlier in the day, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Brussels. Pashinyan reaffirmed Armenia's commitment to normalizing relations with Azerbaijan based on the mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity. Meanwhile, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that the trilateral meeting was directed against any cooperation in the South Caucasus region. Aliyev added that the prepared plan for the South Caucasus could "lead to a great catastrophe in the future."
Yerevan and Baku have repeatedly accused each other of violating a fragile ceasefire along their border. In October 2022, the European Union deployed its first mission in Armenia to monitor the situation on the border with Azerbaijan. The two countries continue to work on border delimitation and demarcation.
The South Caucasus is widely recognized as one of the most volatile regions in the world, partially because of the long-running war between Armenia and Azerbaijan concerning the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. In September 2023, Azerbaijan took control over the region, populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, prompting almost all local residents to flee to Armenia.