US welcomes swap of detained servicemen between Azerbaijan, Armenia

US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller has said that the United States welcomes the exchange of detained servicemen between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place on December 13.

“This is something that we have encouraged, actively encouraged in talks with both governments. We welcome the return of the Armenian and Azerbaijani detainees earlier today and reports that additional confidence-building measures are being discussed. We will continue to work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to move the process forward. We continue to believe that peace is possible if both parties are willing to pursue it,” Caliber.Az quotes him as saying in a State Department briefing on December 13.

On December 13, an exchange of detained servicemen between Azerbaijan and Armenia took place in the direction of Bala Jafarli village of Gazakh district of the Azerbaijani-Armenian border.

On December 7, as a result of negotiations held between the Administration of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, guided by the principles of humanism and as measures of mutual trust, an agreement was reached on the release of 32 Armenian servicemen by Azerbaijan and two Azerbaijani servicemen by Armenia.

The servicemen handed over to the Azerbaijani side are Huseyn Akhundov and Agshin Babirov.

In April this year, due to limited visibility in unfavourable weather conditions in the territory of Shahbuz district of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan bordering Armenia, servicemen of the Azerbaijani army - Babirov Agshin Gabil oglu (born in 2004) and Akhundov Huseyn Ahliman oglu (born in 2003) went missing. Later it became known that they were captured by the Armenian Armed Forces.