Armenia Links Opening of Road to Nakhchivan with Release of Prisoners of War

Baku/28.01.21/Turan: The meeting of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia in Moscow will take place on January 30, where the issue of unblocking communications will be discussed. Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated this on Thursday. According to him, it is planned to discuss the joint statement of the three leaders on January 11.

Grigoryan considers unblocking to be an extremely difficult job, because "there are many issues that require additional discussion, analysis and specification." There are many components to resolve issues related to the transport corridor for Armenia through the territory of Azerbaijan, including security. All these components need to be analyzed, he said.

The day before, Armenian Foreign Minister Ayvazyan, and then Prime Minister Pashinyan, at a meeting with French State Minister Lemoine, stated that it was impossible to restore communications in the region without the release of Armenian prisoners of war. According to the Armenian side, there are from 64 to 235 prisoners in captivity in Azerbaijan. Most of them were captured after the armistice on November 10, 2020.

This means these military men were sent to Azerbaijan despite the agreement on the withdrawal of all Armenian troops from the region. -02D-