Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange prisoners at border

The exchange took place on Wednesday with Azerbaijan releasing 32 Armenians mostly captured in late 2020 while Armenia released two Azerbaijani soldiers held since April, Aljazeera reports.

“Thirty-one personnel from Armenia’s armed forces captured in 2020-2023 and one serviceman captured in Nagorno-Karabakh in September have crossed the Azerbaijani-Armenian border and are on Armenian territory,” Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Facebook account.

Azerbaijan’s state commission for prisoners of war also released a statement about the swap.

“Armenian soldiers were handed to Armenia after the International Committee of the Red Cross examined their health and made a positive conclusion,” it said.

The two neighbors are also discussing the withdrawal of troops from their border, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

The countries said last week as they announced the prisoner exchange that they “reconfirm their intention to normalise relations and to reach a peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

In November, Yerevan said a total of 55 Armenian prisoners of war were being held by Baku, including six civilians, 41 soldiers and eight separatist leaders who were arrested in the wake of Baku’s military operation in September, which recaptured the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

MNA/PR