President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev BAKU, 12 Jan. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, speaking about yesterday's incident on the border with Armenia, said that after the requests of Yerevan, he gave the order of the Ministry of Defense to cease fire. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan announced the death of a serviceman as a result of shelling on the border with Armenia. In turn, the Armenian Defense Ministry announced the use of artillery and unmanned aerial vehicles by Azerbaijan during shelling on the border, as a result of which three Armenian servicemen were injured. This information was denied in Baku. 
Azerbaijan denied reports about the use of UAVs on the border with Armenia «According to the information I received from the Minister of Defense, from six to eight servicemen of the enemy side were killed and many were wounded. After this happened, after a while, the Armenian side became very persistently ask for a ceasefire, but they must understand that the death of an Azerbaijani serviceman will never get away with it (with their hands — ed.). And despite the numerous requests and pleas of the Armenian side with the involvement of Russian peacekeepers, although this did not happen in the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers, it happened on the border, in the Kalbajar direction, at 21.30 I gave the order to the Minister of Defense to cease fire, «Aliyev said in an interview with local TV channels. The head of the Azerbaijani state called the incident on the border another military provocation against Azerbaijani servicemen, completely unmotivated aggression. «This is not the first case that occurs after the war. Unfortunately, all our previous retaliatory actions of a punitive nature have not yet become a lesson for Armenia. Yesterday's case was no exception,» Aliyev noted. At the end of September 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh resumed hostilities, which became a continuation of the long-term conflict and led to casualties among the civilian population. The parties made several attempts to conclude a truce, but the tripartite agreement reached on the night of November 10 turned out to be successful. With the mediation of Moscow, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to completely cease fire, remaining in their positions, and exchange prisoners and bodies of the dead. In addition, the Kelbajar and Lachin regions, as well as part of the Aghdam region, which in the interwar period were under the control of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, crossed over to Baku. Russian peacekeepers are stationed in the region, including the Lachin corridor.
