MOSCOW (RUSSIA) – In what is seen as an “all for all” exchange mediated by Russia, both Armenia and Azerbaijan began swapping prisoners of war after the bloody conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, said the Russian defence ministry on Tuesday.
It was a Russia-brokered ceasefire that brought an end to the six-week conflict between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces over Nagorno-Karabakh and its nearby areas.
Azerbaijan got territorial gains in the conflict while there was seething anger among the public in Armenia, which led to people taking to the streets in protest against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
There are Russian peacekeepers in the region.
Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said late on Monday that a group of 44 Armenian prisoners had returned following Russian mediation, according to the Interfax news agency.
As part of the exchange, a Russian military aircraft flew a group of 12 Azeri prisoners to Baku, said Rustam Muradov, commander of Russia’s peacekeeping forces.