YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 6, ARMENPRESS. There are no prisoners of war (POW) in Armenia and Artsakh at this moment, Armenia’s caretaker defense minister Davit Tonoyan told reporters today ahead of parliamentary committee debates of the 2019 state budget.

Tonoyan was addressing a Russian media report that claimed that Azerbaijan has offered to carry out exchange of prisoners.

“There is no official talk in terms of exchange of prisoners. I’ve got this information from the media. If prisoners of war were to exist in Armenia or Artsakh they would be exchanged, but at this phase there are no prisoners of war,” Tonoyan said.

He emphasized that the arrested and imprisoned prisoners in Artsakh are convicted for committing crimes, and they cannot anyhow be considered prisoners of war.

Tonoyan said that the operative connection functions between the two sides and in the event of violations they immediately notify for respective actions to be carried out.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan