BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 14
Trend:
The issues related to the exchange of the people detained in the territories of Azerbaijan and Armenia are always on the agenda of the negotiations on the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said.
Zakharova made the remark at the briefing, Trend reports on May 14.
"Last year, a decision was made in Moscow for relatives to visit prisoners of war,” Zakharova said. “Then, Azerbaijan and Armenia returned one prisoner of war each and the consultations on the fate of other prisoners of war are underway with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. We will closely monitor this process."
The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.
The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on the withdrawal of its armed forces from Nagorno Karabakh and the surrounding districts.