Not only the photo of Ruben Vardanyan, but also the photos of the “trial” of other Armenian captives in Azerbaijan have left a very heavy impression. Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, told this to reporters Friday.

“You also saw the MFA statement today. Throughout the entire period the RA [i.e. the Republic of Armenia] government has used all the existing possible tools to try to find a solution. The solution is for all [these Armenian] captives to be released; that is, the 23 confirmed captives at the moment to return to the Republic of Armenia. We will continue to work in this direction, we are making efforts, and will continue to make these efforts to release all [Armenian] captives who are in Azerbaijan,” said Grigoryan.

To the question as to what exactly Armenia is doing in this regard, the Security Council secretary replied: “It would be difficult to talk about many public efforts. I can give one example. If you recall, about the release of the captives in 2023. We didn’t talk about it publicly much, we focused more on the work.

I understand that there is public interest in that part. But the issue is very delicate, and the work that is being done in that direction, so that all the [Armenian] captives are released and come to Armenia, is daily, hourly. We hope that we will be able to succeed.”

Regarding the remark that Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) former state minister, businessman, and philanthropist Ruben Vardanyan is currently on a hunger strike and there is a call to stop the negotiations until the Armenian captives are released, Armen Grigoryan said: “I don’t know how those people assessed such proposals, what kind of impact they will have because our experience shows that the process of releasing captives, the work in that direction should be tried to be carried out in a slightly different direction. Previously, captives were released during negotiation processes also, and in our assessment, we should continue to use the tools that we are using now.”

 The head of Armenia’s Security Council assured that these issues are raised in contacts with all countries.

“Naturally, we are not working in the same mode that we have already worked in because there is a created situation, and I am responding to the created situation. Naturally, all of us—like Armenia’s public—are concerned about Ruben Vardanyan’s hunger strike, as well as his publicized photos, where we have concerns about signs of torture. We are all working in that direction so that we can achieve some result. Our work, naturally, is not in the previous rhythm, there is a change,” said Armen Grigoryan.