Azerbaijan continues to use Armenian POWs as bargaining chips, Pashinyan says
Azerbaijan did not take any adequate steps in response to Armenia’s handover of minefield maps to Baku and continues to use Armenian prisoners of war (POWs) as bargaining chips, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday.
He rejected Baku's unfounded accusations against Armenia regarding mine planting on the border.
"Azerbaijan also continues to accuse Armenia of mine-placing issues. First, the International Court of Justice, by its decision of February 22 of this year, denied the accusations against Armenia over mine-placing, and then, in order to show its sincerity and determination regarding the settlement of relations, the Armenian side in previous years transferred to Azerbaijan the maps of all the territories and minefields under the latter's control, which are being used today in Azerbaijan for large-scale demining operations," Pashinyan told a cabinet meeting.
"Whereas, Azerbaijan did not take any adequate steps in response to this, to this day it continues to illegally keep Armenian prisoners of war and use them as a political bargaining factor," he stressed.