10:08, 29 January 2021

Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange POWs

On Thursday (January 28), Azerbaijan returned five prisoners of war (POWs) to Armenia; and Yerevan handed one POW over to Baku, the commander of Russian peacemakers has informed. The total number of POWs returned to Armenia has reached 62, and to Azerbaijan – 15.

According to Armenian authorities, despite the ceasefire, soldiers continued being captured after. Thus, on December 11-12, 2020, after the end of hostilities in Karabakh, a violation of the ceasefire was recorded in the Gadrut District – armed clashes occurred in the vicinity of the villages of Khtsaberd (the Azerbaijani name is Chailakkala) and Khin Takher (Kyokhne Taglar). The Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh has reported that the fate of 73 military servicemen is unknown.

The POWs who have returned home are from the group captured in the Gadrut District, said Boris Avagyan, a representative of the President of Nagorno-Karabakh, the "Panorama" reports.

Three of the POWs talked to their relatives, said Nazeli Bagdasaryan, an MP from the "My Step" bloc. According to her story, they told their relatives that everything was fine with them, the "Sputnik-Armenia" reports.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on January 28, 2021 at 09:01 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.