During today’s weekly briefing, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova answered an Armenian reporter’s question whether the restart of road traffic through the Vardenis-Martakert and Martakert-Stepanakert roads passing through Askeran become a topic for discussion for the trilateral task force set up with respect to the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

“Of course, people who are in that region have a more complete picture of the demand of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh for this or that road. I believe that if the mentioned routes are in the zone of responsibility of Russian peacekeepers, this question can also be addressed to the Russian Ministry of Defense, and I believe the latter responds very promptly. I would like to remind that, according to point 6 in the statement of the leaders of the three countries dated November 9, 2020, Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia are linked through the Lachin corridor,” Zakharova said.

Zakharova also answered the reporter’s question about Armenian prisoners of war. “As far as the second question about the return of Armenian prisoners of war is concerned, we are working with our Azerbaijani and Armenian colleagues, including through the Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. Just recently, more prisoners of war were exchanged through the mediation of the Commander of the Russian peacekeeping contingent. An Azerbaijani and five Armenian prisoners of war were returned. Overall, we proceed from the fact that the optimal solution to this issue is the exchange according to the “all for all” formula,” Zakharova said.