Azerbaijan detains more than 100 citizens of the Republic of Armenia, and the delay in resolving this issue delays the start of a dialogue between Yerevan and Baku, said Zareh Sinanyan, the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

Sinanyan noted that during his visit to Russia—from February 24 to March 2, he discussed the issue in talks with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko.

"The most important topic for us is the return of Armenian prisoners of war and detainees from Azerbaijan. And I discussed this issue also at the meeting at the Russian Foreign Ministry ... I know that their number is more than a hundred, but I do not have an exact number. And we are having a dialogue on this issue, too, as we want to find out how many people are in Azerbaijani captivity; they [i.e., Baku] know it better. Because of the hostilities, it is clear that we have a list of people who, as we know, are in Azerbaijan, and there is also a list of missing persons. And in this case, the numbers are constantly changing," added the High Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs of Armenia.

According to him, Yerevan hopes that Moscow will continue to contribute to the settlement of this issue. "We hope that we will be able to succeed in working with the Russian Federation. The Russian side has assured that it will contribute to the settlement of this issue, and we believe in them. The delay in resolving this issue delays the launch of a dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan," Zareh Sinanyan said.