On June 15, another tripartite meeting took place in St. Petersburg with the participation of the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Anna Vardapetyan, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov, and the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Kamran Aliyev.
Anna Vardapetyan thanked Igor Krasnov for organizing a meeting in this format again. Along with that, however, Anna Vardapetyan expressed concern regarding Azerbaijan’s failure to fully fulfill the humanitarian requirements of the tripartite declaration signed by the leaders of the Republic of Armenia, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Azerbaijan on November 9, 2020, and attempts to escalate the situation.
“Since the signing of the declaration, Armenian prisoners of war have been kept in the Republic of Azerbaijan, and 33 of them have been sentenced. There is also direct evidence of the kidnapping of two Armenian service members by the armed forces of Azerbaijan. Moreover, the Azerbaijani side’s refusal to return several persons to the Republic of Armenia is based on the fact that these persons appeared in Azerbaijan after the signing of the Declaration. In contrast, the Armenian side entirely fulfilled the requirements of Clause 8 of the Declaration, Anna Vardapetyan said.
The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia also referred to the incidents that took place in the last few days, the fire opened by the Azerbaijani armed forces toward the Armenian positions and civilian objects near the Yeraskh settlement and in the area of Teghi, emphasizing that there is no clear assessment condemning them, the non-return of persons held in Azerbaijan, as well as the declaration are a direct consequence of not fulfilling other agreements. “Fulfilling the reached agreements and assumed obligations would allow us to avoid such cases, “Azerbaijan’s behavior not only does not contribute to the implementation of the provisions of the Declaration but also contradicts the goals and meaning of that document, further exacerbating the situation,” Anna Vardapetyan emphasized.
At the end of the meeting, the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia reaffirmed the priority of Armenia to fulfill the humanitarian requirements and stressed that Azerbaijan still needs to satisfy these requirements.
