Azerbaijan is obliged to repatriate all Armenian POWs and captives - Russian Federation Council chief to Armenian parliament speaker

Azerbaijan is obliged to ensure the repatriation of all the Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) and other individuals being held in captivity, the chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia said today as he received the president of the National Assembly for negotiations in St. Petersburg.

Greeting Ararat Mirzoyan in her office, Valentina Matviyenko took the chance to reaffirm her country’s resolute position on the issue, appreciating also the high efficiency of the Armenian parliament members’ work in the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

She also hailed the renewed agenda of the Armenian-Russian negotiations amid the raging coronavirus pandemic. Matvienko praised the ongoing inter-parliamentary dialogue, expressing confidence that the cooperation will intensify in different formats along with the efforts towards combatting the global challenge. Meantime she prioritized the trilateral statement on the cessation of military hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh and the presence of Russian peacekeeping troops as a major groundwork for the maintenance of ceasefire.

Thanking his Russsian counterpart for the reception, Mirzoyan, for his part, praised the sustainably developing bilateral strategic relations in different areas.

He briefed Matvienko on the post-conflict situation after the signing of the November 9 truce, raising the urgency of the return of Armenian POWs and civilian captives. The Armenian parliament speaker said that the kind of policies pursued by Azerbaijan "create an environment non-conducive to the unblocking of regional communication links”.

According to the parliament’s press service, the sides also agreed on measures towards arranging the CIS Parliamentary Assembly’s observation mission during the snap parliamentary elections in Armenia.

At the end of the meeting, Mirzoyan honored Matvienko with the Armenian National Assembly’s gold medal, praising her efforts towards the strengthening of interparliamentary ties and valuable contribution to the release of Lebanese-Armenian Maral Najarian from Azerbaijani captivity.