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.