On March 17, at 2:58 p.m. the Armenian side transferred Azerbaijani sergeant Anar Hajiyev to the Azerbaijani side. In its turn, the Azerbaijani side transferred Armenian civilian Arthur Badalyan to the Armenian side.

The sides exchanged the war prisoner and the civilian near Bash Karvend village with the assistance of the Yerevan and Stepanakert Offices of International Committee of Red Cross, NKR Commission on POWs, Missing Person and Hostages informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Badalyan was kidnapped in early 2009, but the Azerbaijani side had been refuting reports on his location in Azerbaijan till November 2010.

Upon the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation, the Presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan met on March 5, 2011 in Sochi and discussed in detail the process and the prospects of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

1. To conclude in the shortest possible period of time the exchange of the prisoners of war,

2. To strive to solve all contentious issues through peaceful means and to conduct along the cease-fire line an investigation with the participation of the parties under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs and with the assistance of the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office regarding probable incidents.

The Presidents stressed the importance of their regular meetings on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and agreed to continue them in the present format and further to the activities of the OSCE Minsk Group.