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The search of the missing people during the military actions and the retrieval of dead bodies in Nagorno-Karabakh which has started since November 13, continue actively, Zara Amatuni, the ICRC Armenian office press representative, stated at a discussion in Yerevan devoted to people reported missing or captured during the Artsakh war.

In her words, issues may rise during the search operations, which are mainly addressed by the sides but those issues are not communicated. Amatuni reminded that Russian peacekeepers are engaged in the search operations.

Speaking of the number of Armenian captives in Azerbaijan, Amatuni noted that reports putting the number at 150 are not true. "Given the format of its work, the ICRC never publicize statistics. We are working with authorities of two-three countries for each of the captives. If we visit the detainee, we inform the their families about it. We have an opportunity for certain access and have been able to visit them. Yet we are not mandated to issue any numbers. Reports circulated on the web are not true," Amatuni said.

In the words of the ICRC representative, the parties are to decide whether they want to publish the number of PoWs held in respective countries or not.

"Our mandate is to visit the captives, support them since they are under detention. We cannot make the sides or decide on behalf of them to free the war prisoners. We are definitely for that, yet not authorized for such decisions," Amatuni said.