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Relatives of Armenian prisoners held by Azerbaijan, as well as soldiers missing from the 2020 Artsakh war, on Friday staged protests outside the foreign embassies and international organizations in Yerevan.

They demand efforts to ensure the release of Armenian prisoners and ascertain the fate of missing persons.

Ruzanna Stepanyan, a member of the All-Armenian Front and deputy chair of the Haykandukht Traditionalist Democratic Party, accused the Armenian government of leaving the families of captured and missing soldiers “alone to deal with their suffering” as she joined the protests.

“Armenia’s state agencies have washed their hands of these families’ problems,” the woman told reporter.

She announced plans to step up pressure on the government amid reports of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s trip to New York to meet with the UN chief later this month.

Stepanyan attributed the inaction of international organizations regarding Armenian prisoners to the Armenian government’s foreign policy.

“How come that everyone has started to reckon with Baku, while no one wants to reckon with us,” she remarked.