Fifteen Armenian Prisoners-Of-War are returning home to Yerevan from Azerbaijani captivity in exchange for maps of minefields of occupied Artskah’s Varanda (Fizuli) and Kovsakan (Zangelan) regions, reports Sputnik Armenia.

The group of 15 POWs will be arrive in Yerevan in the coming hours and will be accompanied Rustam Muradov, the Commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Artsakh.

In exchange for the return of the Armenian prisoners, the Armenian side provides Azerbaijan with maps of the Occupied Artskah’s Varanda (Fizuli) and Kovsakan (Zangelan) minefields. These are the areas that have come under the control of Azerbaijan.

Among those returned will be 12 Armenian servicemen taken prisoner in Khtsaberd at the end of November 2020. Yesterday, these 12 POWs were illegally sentenced by a Baku court to 6 months in prison on trumped-up charges of “violating the state border of Azerbaijan,” but were acquitted under a number of other articles.

The previous group of 15 prisoners of war was returned on June 12 , the transfer of Armenian prisoners of war took place on the border between Azerbaijan and Georgia. However, all negotiations on the prisoners were conducted by the commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, Rustam Muradov. Then the maps of the minefields of the Agdam region were handed over to the Azerbaijani side.

Then the commander of the peacekeeping contingent was also preparing the return of the prisoners, but at the last moment the Armenian authorities involved the representatives of the USA and Georgia in the process.