Monday, January 18 2021 14:39

ArmInfo.The military of the Russian Federation, Armenia and Azerbaijan are currently verifying the lists of names for the exchange of prisoners of war after the  conflict in Karabakh, Russian Foreign Minister 

Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference.  In his words, at first it  was necessary for both Armenia and Azerbaijan to form lists of people  who missed and whom they want to free from captivity, and the  Armenian side had the greatest problems in this matter.  

"Azerbaijan gave such lists, and they were insignificant, and all  were not immediately, but those who were mentioned in the Azerbaijani  lists were returned. There have been no more situations with the  missing persons, with prisoners of war, with detains on the part of  Azerbaijan," explained the Russian minister.

He recalled that from the Armenian side the lists were not provided  immediately and in full, and subsequently exchanges of those who were  participants in the events that ended on November 9 took place. 

"But now the main thing is the question that arose already at the  beginning of December in the Hadrut region, when at the end of  November a large group of Armenian conscript-soldiers was sent there.  And they were captured in a week, ten days in early December, 62  people," - pointed out Lavrov.  The Azerbaijani side, according to  the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, at that stage stated that  since these people were abandoned in this area after the announcement  of a ceasefire and all hostilities, they should be considered a  separate procedure, and not as falling under the agreement of  November 9.

We, nevertheless, are still promoting the need to continue  consideration of this issue in order to close it, guided by the  principle of "all for all". I spoke with the Minister of Foreign  Affairs of Armenia, trying to clarify the final lists of those who  are now missing, but it turned out that there are much more than 62  of them. And now our military is in contact with the military of  Armenia, with the military of Azerbaijan.  These lists are already  being verified in order to understand where these people may be,  "Lavrov stressed.

At the same time, the Russian Foreign Minister noted that if there  were no Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh, the issue of the exchange  of prisoners of war would be more difficult to resolve.