BAKU, 10 December 2021, (TON): An Azerbaijani soldier has died in a shootout with Armenian forces, officials in Baku said, two weeks after the arch-foe countries held talks on easing tensions following their war last year.

The ex-Soviet Caucasus neighbors fought last autumn a six-week war over the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh which has claimed more than 6,500 lives.

Hostilities ended last November with a Russian-brokered cease-fire under which Yerevan ceded swathes of territory it had controlled for decades.

Baku’s defense ministry said “an Azerbaijani soldier was killed overnight as a result of a provocation by Armenia’s armed forces near the countries’ shared border.

The ministry said in a statement “full responsibility for the escalation lies with Armenia’s political and military leaders.”

Armenia, meanwhile, said Baku had opened fire on its positions on Wednesday night on the eastern part of their shared border.

It called on Azerbaijan to “refrain from provocative actions.”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met for rare face-to-face talks under the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin last month.