BAKU, December 9. / TASS /. An Azerbaijani serviceman has been killed on the frontier with Armenia, the Defense Ministry of the republic said on Thursday.

"As a result of another provocation carried out by the Armenian forces, serviceman Asif Aliyev has been killed during the night of December 8 on the Kelbajar direction of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border," the statement reads.

According to the Defense Ministry, "after some appropriate measures taken by the Azerbaijani army, the enemy was suppressed." Baku assigned responsibility for the incident to the Armenian military-political leadership.

On November 16, violent clashes between the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out at their border. Yerevan said the Azeri military began advancing into Armenian territory, threatening the highway that connects the Armenian capital with the country’s southern regions and Iran. Baku pinned the blame on Yerevan, saying the Armenian armed forces had staged a provocation by attacking Azeri positions.

In response to the events, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu held phone talks with his counterparts in Armenia and Azerbaijan. The situation later returned to normal after Azerbaijan and Armenia sought to stabilize it, Russia’s Defense Ministry said.