MOSCOW

The Armenian armed forces opened fire on Azerbaijani army positions in Kalbajar district in East Zangezur overnight, Baku said on Monday.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement that Armenian forces deployed near the Zarkand settlement in the Basarkechar region opened fire late Sunday night on Azerbaijani army positions in Kalbajar.

“On August 18, at about 23:50 the Armenian armed forces stationed in the direction of Zarkand settlement in Basarkechar region using small arms subjected to fire the Azerbaijan Army positions stationed in the direction of the Damirchidam settlement of the Kalbajar region,” it said.

The Azerbaijani military “took adequate retaliatory measures in the mentioned direction,” it added.

The incident occurred while Russian President Vladimir Putin was in Baku, where he intended to discuss, among other things, the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement with Azerbaijan's top officials.

Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.

Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a 44-day war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that opened the door to normalization and talks on border demarcation.

Last September, Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh following an "anti-terrorist operation," after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.