YEREVAN

In a unified expression of grief and condemnation, citizens and visitors of Sofia gathered in front of the Russian Embassy to commemorate the life and legacy of Alexei Navalny, a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In response to the injury of an Azerbaijani soldier stationed at the border due to gunfire from Armenia, Azerbaijan has carried out a retaliatory fire, with the Armenian Defense Ministry unveiling that its four soldiers were killed.

Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have surged once again, with Armenia accusing Azerbaijan of a deadly attack that claimed the lives of two soldiers and left several others injured. This accusation follows a similar claim made by Baku just a day prior, alleging that one of its soldiers had been wounded in a separate incident.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will visit Riyadh on Thursday, where he is scheduled to meet with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis (4th from the right) meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (3rd from the right) in Yerevan on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will visit Yerevan on Wednesday, where he is scheduled to meet with his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan.

Gerapetritis will also meet with the Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, the Foreign Ministry said.

Türkiye has welcomed the recent confidence-building measures taken by Armenia and Azerbaijan and underlined that the South Caucasus is closer to historic peace than ever before with calls on the third parties not to hinder the talks between the two countries.

Türkiye has hailed a deal between arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan to swap prisoners of war and work toward normalizing ties torn by decades of strife over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Azerbaijan reclaimed the long-disputed enclave after a lightning offensive against Armenian separatists in September.

Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan said Thursday they would exchange prisoners of war and work towards normalising their relations, in a joint statement hailed by the European Union and the United States as a breakthrough after three decades of conflict over disputed territory.

Citigroup employees labeled a group of roughly 80,000 Armenian Americans living near Los Angeles - the largest Armenian community outside Yerevan, the Armenian capital - as "bad guys" and secretly denied them fair access to the bank's credit card products, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said in a statement on Wednesday.