Two Armenian soldiers were killed in border clashes with Azerbaijani forces on Monday. This is the most recent military confrontation between the two since the war they fought last year over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Armenian defense ministry declared in a statement that Azerbaijani forces opened fire while positioned from Nakhichevan, an Azerbaijani exclave in southwestern Armenia, wounding an Armenian soldier who later died on route to the hospital.

The Armenian government added that  "Azerbaijan tried to provoke Armenia yesterday evening, when it shot and killed a second Armenian soldier," noting that "this is the second Armenian soldier to die today."

To avoid further violence after recent clashes, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared on Thursday that he will request that the Russian military be deployed near the border with Azerbaijan. Moreover, Moscow last fall placed 2,000 peacekeepers in the region to monitor the truce it brokered to end the violence.

Azerbaijan and Armenia also reported border gunfire this month, raising fears of further confrontations.

It is noteworthy that a six-week war last fall resulted in 6,500 casualties, ending in November with a Russian-brokered ceasefire, under which Armenia relinquished control of lands it ruled for decades.