Friday, April 9 2021 13:40

ArmInfo. The presence of the commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces in Karabakh, Rustam Muradov, on board the plane that landed at Yerevan's Erebuni airport  the night before, indicates the existence of agreements that were  violated. This was stated by the chairman of the Standing Committee  of the National Assembly of Armenia on Defense and Security Andranik  Kocharyan on April 9 to journalists.

The reasons for the violation of these agreements, according to  Kocharyan, are unknown. As the parliamentarian pointed out, it can be  assumed that once again the rules of the game were changed by the  enemy, which may be due to the fact that certain problems arose  between the signatories of the Trilateral Agreement, which prevented  the return of prisoners of war.

At the same time, he claims that the prisoners are being held in  Azerbaijan not in order to force Armenia to make new territorial  concessions. "The goal is to create a tense situation in Armenia, "he  said, and accused those who spread such rumors of manipulating and  speculating on"a very sensitive topic." "All day yesterday, we were  involved in serving other people's interests," he stressed.

According to Kocharyan, the issue of returning the prisoners arose  after the meeting of the Moscow meeting of Vladimir Putin and Nikol  Pashinyan. "Russia tried to make its contribution to the return of  prisoners this summer. This is the reason why the Hero of Russia,  General Muradov, went to Baku to accompany the prisoners. However,  there was some obstacle, but I can't voice it yet, " Kocharyan said.   When asked if he knows what the reason is, the MP from the My Step  faction said that he "intuitively" understands what is happening, but  cannot voice it.

Kocharyan said that the security of the Armenian prisoners is not in  danger, as the Azerbaijani authorities have recognized the fact of  their presence. The problem may arise with missing persons, who may  also be in captivity.

At the same time, as the MP pointed out, perhaps Azerbaijan expects  the participation of the Turkish authorities in the process - "with  its good intentions". "Perhaps someone wants Putin and Erdogan to  talk again," he stressed.

Commenting on the statements of Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun  Bayramov that there are "no Armenian prisoners of war" in the  country, the head of the commission noted that this was " a hasty  statement, because if some agreements were not fulfilled, the Foreign  Minister, forced, says that the detained persons are not prisoners of  war."

Earlier in the evening, the press secretary of the Armenian Prime  Minister, Mane Gevorgyan, said that a group of Armenian prisoners of  war was returning to the republic by plane from Baku. Then she  deleted her entry in the FB, but numerous relatives of the prisoners  of war managed to gather at the checkpoint of the Erebuni airport.   When they learned about the empty plane, they said that they would  join the protest outside the Ministry of Defense and organize a rally  outside the government building. The office of Armenian Deputy Prime  Minister Tigran Avinyan issued a statement saying that " the return  of prisoners is being postponed, which is a gross violation of the  humanitarian process." "Negotiations with the mediation of Russia are  continuing. We hope that Azerbaijan will eventually comply with the  provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and  implement the humanitarian agreement, contributing to the  establishment of stability in the region," the statement reads.