Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 12.01.22:

  • The Armenian defense ministry had announced Tuesday that at around 3:15 pm, the units of the Azerbaijani armed forces had opened fire on the Armenian military positions located at the sector of Verin Shorzha village of Gegharkunik Province of Armenia.

Three Armenian servicemen were killed and two others were wounded as the result of the Azerbaijani provocations.

The wounded are in stable condition, and their injuries are not life-threatening.

Meanwhile, the night was calm at the Armenian military positions located in the Verin Shorzha village sector of Gegharkunik Province, the mayor of Geghamasar village, Hakob Avetyan, told NEWS.am.

  • The body of an Armenian soldier, Private Vahan Babayan (born in 2003) wound was found at midnight in the area of intense exchange of fire that began after the provocation carried out Tuesday by Azerbaijani military units in the eastern part of the Armenia-Azerbaijan border.
  • EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar expressed concern over another aggravation on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

According to him, the EU is ready to work with sides for a distancing of forces and reiterate our readiness to provide additional support in working with and on border delimitation and demarcation.

Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) calls on Azerbaijan and Armenia to refrain from the use of force and engage in a meaningful dialogue to settle the dispute around Nagorno-Karabakh.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone talk with Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.

Taking into account the [current] chairmanship of Armenia in the Collective Security Treaty Organization [(CSTO)], an exchange of views took place on the course of the CSTO peacekeeping operation in Kazakhstan.

The situation around Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)] and some issues of implementation of the agreements, which are recorded in the statements of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021, were also discussed.

  • Serdar Kilic was appointed by Turkey as its envoy in the process of normalization of Armenian-Turkish relations.

Until now, Serdar Kilic had been called an "envoy" of the Turkish side.

Serdar Kilic was Turkey's Ambassador to the United States, from 2014 to 2021, and has been active in the denial of the Armenian Genocide.

He actively participated in the organizing of the activities to thwart Armenian resolutions in the US Congress, as well as in the organizing of anti-Armenian events and actions in the US.

  • As of Wednesday morning, 289 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 346,513 in the country, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, four more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 8,010 cases.