Armenia, Azerbaijan exchange prisoners of war

Armenia and Azerbaijan have started a prisoner swap, under a ceasefire deal that was brokered by Russia last month to put an end to weeks-long fighting between the two countries over the Karabakh region.

According to reports, Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Baku and Yerevan had begun exchanging prisoners of war.

A Russian military aircraft flew a group of 12 Azeri prisoners to Baku late on Monday, said the commander of Russia’s peacekeeping forces in Karabakh, Rustam Muradov.

Baku also released a group of 44 Armenian prisoners on Monday, according to Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan.

After six weeks of deadly fighting in and around the disputed Caucasus region, Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to end hostilities under the Russian-brokered deal in early November.

Under the ceasefire deal, Azerbaijan regained some of its territorial claims and Russia and Turkey sent peacekeeping forces to jointly monitor the truce.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have, however, accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

SS