YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan chaired a consultation over issues relating to the return of Armenian soldiers and civilians from the Azerbaijani captivity, clarifying the fate of missing soldiers, as well as the social guarantees to their families, the PM’s Office told Armenpress.

In his remarks the PM stated that the 6th point of the roadmap released by him relates to all these issues. “In general, we should, of course, carry out a very intense work on this direction. We should inform the families what actions we are taking, and we should do everything for the citizens not to go and hold campaigns outside different agencies in order to get informed about those missing in action”, the PM said, adding that there is a political agreement over the exchange of captives, and they need to understand through what mechanism and timetables their return must be implemented. Pashinyan said he is going to meet with the representatives of families of missing persons and prisoners of war soon.

“Fortunately, there have been cases when some people, who were declared as missing, have been found alive, they didn’t have an opportunity to inform about their location and have just returned. We must hope for having more and more such cases. Now we should get prepared in order to be able to provide more concrete and complete information to their relatives”, Pashinyan noted.

The PM was reported on the works being done for the return of the Armenian captives. The search operation mechanisms have been discussed. The consultation also touched upon the directions of social-psychological support to be provided to the affected families.

Pashinyan tasked to form an inter-agency working group which will deal with quickly solving all those issues.

He highlighted keeping constant touch with the families of the captives and missing soldiers and for that purpose a 24/7 operating center has been formed. “The most important is the daily communication with the people. The state agencies should visit, meet and talk to these families, understand their needs for providing medical, psychological and social assistance”, PM Pashinyan said.

Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan