Pashinyan: Karabakh Status, Exchange of POWs Not Resolved Yet

MOSCOW — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in a joint press conference following the trilateral meeting with Presidents of the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan, Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev, in Moscow on Monday.

Pashinyan thanked Russian President Vladimir Putin for the efforts he is investing in restoring stability and security in the region and in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

“Unfortunately, this conflict has not been resolved. Of course, we managed to secure the ceasefire, but there are still many issues that must be resolved. One of these issues is the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Armenia is ready to continue negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship,” Pashinyan said.

“Unfortunately, today we were unable to resolve the issue of prisoners of war, and this is the most sensitive and painful issue, because it is a humanitarian issue. We agreed that we will continue to work in this direction,” he said.

Pashinyan noted that the 8th point of the joint statement of November 10, 2020, is not fully implemented.

“I hope that we will be able to come to a concrete decision in the shortest possible time,” the Armenian Prime Minister added.

The 8th point of the statement of the President of Azerbaijan, the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Russia on November 10, 2020, calls for the exchange of prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and the bodies of the dead.

According to the Armenian Prime Minister, the statement signed on January 11 may change the economic appearance of the region.

“The statement we signed today is really very important, and I will not hide the fact that the implementation of this statement can simply change the economic image and appearance of our region, and economic innovations can also lead to more reliable security guarantees,” Pashinyan said.

He declared his readiness to work constructively in this direction, “but, unfortunately, it is impossible to resolve all issues during one meeting.”

“I hope that we will continue to advance. I would like to emphasize once again that the most important issue for us at the moment is humanitarian issues, issues of exchange of prisoners of war, which are provided for in paragraph 8 of our joint statement of November 10, ” Pashinyan said.