Border village teens deny kidnapping reports, authorities say

Armenian authorities have denied media reports that the two Armenian teenagers from a border village who went missing yesterday were kidnapped by Azerbaijanis. 

In a statement, the Armenian National Security Service said the two teenagers told authorities after being found that they got lost while searching for their livestock and accidentally crossed the border.

“As a follow-up to the June 6 statement, we inform that as a result of conversations with the two minor residents of the village of Tegh, Syunik province, held after they were found, it was revealed that they had gotten lost while searching for their domesticated animals and were unable to navigate the terrain due to fog. The reports about them having been kidnapped by Azerbaijanis are untrue,” the NSS said in a press release.

Residents of the village of Tegh of Syunik Province of Armenia, Karen A. Jhangiryan (born 27.06.2007) and Andrey A. Gyagunts (born 13.01.2008), on June 6, 2025, around 01:20, appeared in the territory of Azerbaijan as a result of getting lost in the terrain near the village of Aravus in Syunik Province. The two were found and returned home later the same day.