Russia welcomes Azerbaijan's actions for the return of five more Armenian captives and hopes to continue the process, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
"On October 19, with the help of the Russian military, five more Armenian captives returned home from Azerbaijan. We welcome this step by Baku and hope that the process of returning the detainees will continue," she said.
The diplomat noted that "a total of 122 detainees have been exchanged since last December 2020 thanks to Russian mediation efforts. 105 people returned to Armenia, 17 to Azerbaijan."
Zakharova also stressed that Russia intends to continue providing all the necessary assistance for the normalization of relations between Baku and Yerevan in all tracks.
Armenia is seeking the return of all detainees from Azerbaijan. Yerevan has repeatedly stressed that their return is a priority issue when discussing a further settlement of the situation in the region.
The situation in the conflict zone around Nagorno-Karabakh escalated on September 27, 2020, when active hostilities broke out there. On November 9 that year, Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on the complete cessation of hostilities in Karabakh. According to the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the occupied positions, a number of districts passed under Baku's control, and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the line of contact and the Lachin corridor. One of the points of the statement to be implemented by the sides is the exchange of prisoners according to the "all for all" principle.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
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Based on materials from TASS