WPS Agency, Russia
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 29, 2010 Friday
DECLARATION
by Artyom Kobzev
LEADERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AGREED TO EXCHANGE PRISONERS AND
BODIES OF VICTIMS; Armenia and Azerbaijan will exchange POWs and KIAs.
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serj Sargsjan and Ilham Aliyev
met with their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Astrakhan.
Sargsjan and Aliyev signed a joint statement.
When the talks were over, Medvedev announced that his Armenian and
Azerbaijani opposite numbers signed a declaration where Yerevan and
Baku pledged to organize an immediate exchange of POWs and return
bodies of the killed. The declaration reiterated the necessity to
proceed with cease-fire regime measures and measures of trust in the
name of peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
The expert community is split on the results of the talks. Said
Aleksei Vlasov, Director of the Center for Analysis of Sociopolitical
Processes in Post-Soviet Zone, "Considering that Armenia and
Azerbaijan failed to reach an agreement on a single issue in the six
months or so, this decision to exchange prisoners and bodies of the
killed might be regarded as a success."
Political Techniques Center Vice President Sergei Mikheyev disagreed.
"Karabakh is an issue where no breakthroughs are to be expected
because no breakthroughs are possible. Save for a military
breakthrough, that is." According to Mikheyev, it was necessary for
the involved parties to show at least something by way of results so
that the declaration was signed. "After all, firing there continues
and people get killed all the time. Why not exchange them? A year from
now, they will be in the position to repeat it all and organize
another exchange." Mikheyev called the positions of Yerevan and Baku
as polar as ever before.
Source: Vremya Novostei, October 28, 2010, p. 2
From: A. Papazian
DEFENSE and SECURITY (Russia)
October 29, 2010 Friday
DECLARATION
by Artyom Kobzev
LEADERS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AGREED TO EXCHANGE PRISONERS AND
BODIES OF VICTIMS; Armenia and Azerbaijan will exchange POWs and KIAs.
Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serj Sargsjan and Ilham Aliyev
met with their Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Astrakhan.
Sargsjan and Aliyev signed a joint statement.
When the talks were over, Medvedev announced that his Armenian and
Azerbaijani opposite numbers signed a declaration where Yerevan and
Baku pledged to organize an immediate exchange of POWs and return
bodies of the killed. The declaration reiterated the necessity to
proceed with cease-fire regime measures and measures of trust in the
name of peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict.
The expert community is split on the results of the talks. Said
Aleksei Vlasov, Director of the Center for Analysis of Sociopolitical
Processes in Post-Soviet Zone, "Considering that Armenia and
Azerbaijan failed to reach an agreement on a single issue in the six
months or so, this decision to exchange prisoners and bodies of the
killed might be regarded as a success."
Political Techniques Center Vice President Sergei Mikheyev disagreed.
"Karabakh is an issue where no breakthroughs are to be expected
because no breakthroughs are possible. Save for a military
breakthrough, that is." According to Mikheyev, it was necessary for
the involved parties to show at least something by way of results so
that the declaration was signed. "After all, firing there continues
and people get killed all the time. Why not exchange them? A year from
now, they will be in the position to repeat it all and organize
another exchange." Mikheyev called the positions of Yerevan and Baku
as polar as ever before.
Source: Vremya Novostei, October 28, 2010, p. 2
From: A. Papazian