Russia's non-participation in the process of exchanging prisoners of war for maps of minefields is the decision of the Armenian government

On June 12, conflict analyst Elkhan Mehdiyev commented on the transfer of maps of minefields with location of 97,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines in the Agdam region by Armenia to Azerbaijan in exchange for 15 Armenian prisoners of war in the program of the Turan News Agency "Difficult Question".

According to the expert, maps of mined territories handed over to Azerbaijan are a very small part of the maps available. Speaking at a rally in the village of Karmir Gukh, Gegharkunik region of Armenia on the eve of early parliamentary elections, acting Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan was absolutely right in saying: "This is not an insignificant part but it is a small part."

Mehdiyev also noted that in reality, there are much more mines installed in Aghdam. It was no mere coincidence that President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev emphasized a figure of one million mines. Besides, the reliability of the provided cards is seriously questionable.

Also, it is not a fact that while mining the territory of the Aghdam district, the Armenians, in accordance with the Charter of the USSR Armed Forces, handed over a copy of the minefield maps to the General Staff (and another copy, of course, remained in the military unit located in the depth of defense or on the front line – approx. Ed.). Consequently, the maps might be in a single copy and easily be lost - during the intense fighting, the Armenians were not up to them.

As for Russia's non-participation in the process of exchanging 15 captured saboteurs for maps of minefields and, instead the active presence of the United States and European institutions in Georgia, this was a decision of the Armenian government. Most likely, this is the result of the manifestation of power struggle in Armenia between Pashinyan's team and pro-Russian forces. It is unlikely that Russia will like it, and there is no doubt that Russia would recall it to the Pashinyan government," according to the analyst.

As for the fact that the Armenians turned the transfer of minefield maps into a subject of bargaining, it is directly related to the fact that the trilateral agreement of November 10 was signed hurryingly and, hence, an article on the transfer of minefield maps had not been inserted in the agreement.-0-