YEREVAN (RFE/RL) – A senior US diplomat has voiced concern over the lack of progress in the release of prisoners of war following the 2020 conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Six weeks of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan in and around Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno Karabakh ended in November with a Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal. More than 6,000 people were killed during the conflict.
Under the truce agreement, a chunk of Nagorno Karabakh and all seven districts around it were placed under Azerbaijani administration after almost 30 years of control by ethnic Armenian forces. The agreement also provided for an exchange of POWs and other detained people.
“I think it’s important to remember that this is about human beings, it’s about people on both sides of the conflict who are the children, the spouses, the parents of people, and we want to see all detained people returned,” acting Assistant US Secretary of State at the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Philip Reeker told RFE/RL.
In December, after several weeks of cease-fire, the two sides finally exchanged prisoners of war. Some 44 Armenian and 12 Azeri prisoners were exchanged on December 15.
Armenian authorities have said that about 60 Armenian servicemen were captured by Azerbaijan as prisoners of war. Azerbaijan has not confirmed the information.
