YEREVAN. – The tense situation outside the grounds of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) of Armenia is not easing.

The relatives of the missing servicemen have been there since Thursday, and on Friday they were joined by the POWs’ relatives, who on Thursday had hoped that their sons would return on board a flight on the same day, but it turned out that no captives had been returned from Azerbaijan.

At some point, the relatives of the missing servicemen started pulling the gates of the MOD grounds, and a light scuffle ensued between them and police.

And during the tense situation, these relatives shouted, "Bring the gasoline bottles, let’s fill [them]!"

Independent MP Sofya Hovsepyan and lawmaker Narek Mkrtchyan from the ruling My Step bloc were at the scene. They told those gathered that the MOD proposed to meet with the relatives at the MOD hall. But the relatives did not agree, and they demanded that the Minister of Defense or the Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces come down and meet with everyone.

Chief of Police Vahe Ghazaryan also arrived at the scene, spoke for about ten minutes with the relatives of the missing soldiers, then entered the MOD building.

A consultation is in progress inside the ministry.

An MOD drone is video recording the whole process from above.

Earlier, Armenian News-NEWS.am reported that the relatives of the missing Armenian servicemen are outside the MOD grounds since Thursday. During the day yesterday, they closed off the entrances of the MOD building, and therefore the ministry employees were unable to leave the building.