Armenian Foreign Ministry announces return of 10 war prisoners from Azerbaijan
Dec 19, 2021
Yerevan [Armenia], December 19 (ANI/Sputnik): Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Vahan Hunanyan confirmed on Sunday the return of 10 Armenian war prisoners from Azerbaijan.
"Ten war prisoners returned back to their homeland through the mediation of the president of the European Council Charles Michel," Hunanyan said on Facebook, adding a list with all the names of the returned prisoners.
On December 14, Michel held trilateral talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan discussing a number of issues including Azerbaijan's release of 10 Armenian detainees who were captured during clashes on November 16.
From his side, Michel noted that the return of the detainees to Yerevan was facilitated by the EU and called it an "important humanitarian gesture demonstrating the mutual will to strengthen confidence," in a comment on Twitter.
On November 16, Yerevan said that the Azerbaijani army invaded Armenian territory in the east in the area of Mount Kilisali. Baku accused Yerevan of purposely aggravating the situation and being uninterested in border delimitation. On the following day, Armenia reported that communication was lost with 24 soldiers, and 13 more troops were captured by Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, Baku reported that seven soldiers were killed and 10 wounded.
The long-standing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh was renewed in late September of last year and resulted in multiple civilian casualties. The sides made several attempts to conclude a truce and eventually signed a trilateral Moscow-brokered deal in November, which entailed a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners and casualties. (ANI/Sputnik):
