Azerbaijani forces gunned down a soldier of the Armenian Armed Forces on Monday evening delivering a fatal gunshot wound as he was manning a military post in the eastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, Armenia’s Defense Ministry reported.

The soldier was identified as Junior Sergeant Arman Sagsyan, born in 2002.

The defense ministry also condemned its Azerbaijani counterpart for releasing false claims about the conduct of Armenian forces, alleging that Armenian soldiers opened fire at Azerbaijani positions.

“This conduct, based on spreading totally false reports accusing the Armenian side of aggressive actions and attempting to artificially escalate the border situation, cannot in any way contribute to the actual stabilization of the border situation,” the defense ministry said.

“The Armenian Armed Forces did not open fire at Azerbaijani positions. Furthermore, as reported earlier, a conscripted serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces, Junior Sergeant Arman Sargsyan sustained a fatal gunshot wound yesterday from an Azerbaijani shooting,” the Armenia’s defense ministry clarified.

Armenia’s National Investigative Committee on Monday announced that it has launched a criminal probe into the incident.

Sargsyan hailed from the Malishka village in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province and he was serving in Jambarak army position in the Gegharkunik Province.

The region’s administrator Garik Nazaryan told News.am that Sargsyan enlisted in the Army in June 2021 and was the youngest in his family and lived with his parents and grandmother. He had one brother.