Azerbaijan exchanges 15 Armenian militaries for minefield maps in Agdam

Today, fifteen military servicemen held by Azerbaijan were handed over to Armenia in exchange for the maps of 97,000 anti-tank and anti-personnel mines placed in the Agdam District, the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has informed.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on April 29, the European Union (EU) called on Azerbaijan to provide information about the Armenian prisoners of war (POWs), requested by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, and to speed up the POW's return to their homeland. On May 4, Azerbaijan handed three servicemen over to Armenia. However, on May 27, six other soldiers were captured in the pre-border Gegarkunik Region during some engineering works, the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has reported. Azerbaijan blamed the soldiers to be Armenian scouts.

The above fifteen servicemen were handed over to Armenia at the Azerbaijani-Georgian border in the presence of Georgia's officials, says the message of the Azerbaijani MFA, received by the "Caucasian Knot".

The MFA believes that "the receipt of the mining maps will save lives and health of tens thousands of citizens, including sappers, and will accelerate the implementation of the projects for the restoration and return of forced migrants launched in Agdam."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 12, 2021 at 06:39 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.