BAKU, Azerbaijan, December 13. The US welcomes the exchange of Armenian and Azerbaijani military detainees today, Spokesman for the US State Department Matthew Miller said at a briefing, Trend reports.
"We have encouraged, and talked with both governments. We welcome the return of the Armenian and Azerbaijani detainees earlier today, and the reports that additional confidence measures are being discussed. We will continue to work with Armenia and Azerbaijan to move the process forward. We continue to believe that peace is possible if both parties are willing to pursue it," he said.
Meanwhile, following the talks between the Presidential Administration of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, an agreement has been reached on taking tangible steps towards building confidence between the two countries.
As a result, today, Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged detained military servicemen. The two countries exchanged detained military personnel in the vicinity of Bala Jafarli village in Azerbaijan's Gazakh province, near the Azerbaijani-Armenian border. Azerbaijan has released 32 Armenian personnel as a gesture of peace, inspired by humanist ideals.
Babirov (born in 2004) and Akhundov (born in 2003) went missing in April 2023 in the Shahbuz district of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, bordering Armenia, due to low visibility in bad weather conditions. They were later apprehended by Armenian soldiers.