Vaqarshak Harutyunyan and Sergey Shoigu Discuss the Situation Surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh

On November 21, a meeting took place at the Ministry of Defense of Armenia between Minister of Defense Vaqarshak Harutyunyan and a delegation headed by Russian Minister of Defense, Army General Sergey Shoigu, who was on a working visit to Armenia. During the meeting, the situation surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh, future initiatives, and various issues related to Armenian-Russian military cooperation were extensively discussed.

Army General Sergey Shoigu congratulated Vaqarshak Harutyunyan on assuming the position of Minister of Defense. The parties highly appreciated the role and efforts of the Russian Federation aimed at stabilizing the military and political situation in the region, as well as the progress and effectiveness of the Russian peacekeeping mission implemented in Artsakh, in accordance with the statement signed on November 10 between the Russian Federation, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

The Russian Minister of Defense informed about the work already carried out in this direction and the upcoming projects. The Ministers of Defense of Armenia and Russia emphasized the importance of work related to the identification and exchange of fallen servicemen, captives, hostages, and missing persons, as well as the activities of the Russian inter-agency humanitarian center established in the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which aims to facilitate the return of refugees, restore civilian infrastructure, search for deceased, captive, and missing individuals, and coordinate various organizations' activities in humanitarian matters.

At the end of the meeting, Minister of Defense Vaqarshak Harutyunyan and Russian Minister of Defense, Army General Sergey Shoigu, signed a package of documents regulating the framework for the actions of the Russian peacekeeping forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone.