5 prisoners of war return to Armenia, Armenian soldier dies at military unit, Feb. 10 digest

Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 10.02.2021:

• Five Armenian captives were returned to Armenia on Tuesday.

The POWs were led by commander Rustam Muradov of the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) conflict zone.

An Azerbaijani was escorted to Baku as well.

Later the Russian defense ministry has released footage of Armenian POWs’ return from Azerbaijan.

• Armenian contractual soldier Eduard Kirakosyan, 27, has suddenly died at one of the military units of the Armenian Armed Forces in the northeastern direction.

According to the National Security Service of Armenia (NSS), no border incidents were recorded in the areas under the responsibility of the NSS Border Guard Troops as well.

The investigation is underway.

• Artsakh rescuers have resumed search operations in Nagorno-Karabakh after a 2-day break.

During the last two days, the search was stopped due to the shift changes in the Russian and Azerbaijani armed forces.

A total of 1,367 bodies have been found so far.

• Aeroflot will resume regular flights to Armenia in February.

The airlines will resume regular flights from Moscow to Almaty (Kazakhstan), Baku (Azerbaijan), Yerevan (Armenia), and Delhi (India).

• Armenia has recorded 196 new cases of COVID-19 - the total number of these cases has reached 168,496 in the country.

The death toll has reached 3,130 cases.

The number of people who have recovered is 160,405, and the number of people currently being treated is 4,175.

• A first freight train has reached Russia via the Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway line.

Milliyet reported that nearly 4,000 pieces of Beko electronic appliances were transported to Russia via the first train.

• The Armenian defense minister Vagharshak Harutyunyan has received a commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in the Karabakh conflict zone, Rustam Muradov.

Harutyunyan thanked Muradov for his active role in the exchanging of POWs, as well as for assisting the search for the missing, and noted the effectiveness of the activities of this Russian peacekeeping force.

• Over 50 senators have urged US President Joe Biden to put pressure on Turkey’s leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The bipartisan letter cited Erdogan for marginalizing domestic opposition; silencing or coopting critical media outlets; purging independent judges, replacing them with party loyalists, and jailing scores of journalists.

The senators note that the US has a significant opportunity to influence Turkey’s troubling human rights record because it’s an important ally in a key region of the world.