Russian Officials Negotiating on Prisoners and Missing Persons with Both Sides

On November 16, the fate of the servicemen captured and missing as a result of Azerbaijani aggression in Syunik remains uncertain. The Armenian Ministry of Defense initially reported 13 captives, 1 dead, and 24 missing, and later officially reported 6 deaths, but it was not clarified whether they were considered captured or missing.

Colonel Boris Avagyan, who is engaged in the issue of prisoner returns, stated to Factinfo that 13 servicemen were in captivity in Baku. One of them was injured and, after receiving medical assistance and undergoing surgery, returned home on November 26.

“The process is not stalled; negotiations are ongoing. Rustam Muradov is on vacation until December 5 and is not conducting negotiations during this period. The Russian Federation is negotiating with both sides. Various senior officials are conducting negotiations to clarify the number of captives, identify who is missing and who is captured, and correspondingly negotiate their return,” Avagyan said, noting that Armenia's national security service is involved in the negotiations. The head of the service is discussing the ongoing processes with Russian counterparts.

During an online press conference, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that unverified data suggests a greater number of soldiers have been captured. “We have 6 confirmed deaths, 24+8 captured, but these figures need final clarification,” Pashinyan said. Avagyan insisted that the number of captives currently in Baku is 12.

“Nikol Pashinyan has mental issues. How can one refer to his words? For three years, Pashinyan has been talking, saying ‘Artsakh is ours,’ then he says Shushi is Azerbaijani. How can one rely on him?”

To the remark that many relatives have seen their servicemen in Azerbaijani videos, yet they do not receive answers from their agencies and their names are absent from the confirmed lists, Avagyan urged them to follow his statements regarding the captives.

“As of today, there are 12 captives; the rest are considered missing. The other absurdities that Nikol Pashinyan and his close associates, teammates, and supporters announce do not interest me. I urge the media to stop following what a mentally ill person says. For me, a person who talks about captives with ‘maybe,’ ‘plus-minus,’ or ‘rumors hanging in the air’ has mental issues, and his statements cannot serve as a basis,” he remarked.

On November 26, not only the injured and captured serviceman returned home, but also 21-year-old Mihran Musayelyan, who had gone missing near Agdam and was detained by Azerbaijani servicemen on November 23. His relatives were also unable to obtain information.

“The second returnee, who was a civilian, had his relatives come to me; they could not obtain information. They received information from me that the captured young man would be returning. No one was providing them information. His sister was trying to get information through social media because they were in a desperate situation,” Avagyan added.