Latest Updates on Azerbaijan and Armenia, 6 December 2021

Gagam Stepanian, an Armenian citizen and human rights activist from Nagorno-Karabakh told Armenian Radio: On Thursday, December 2, Azerbaijani forces opened fire on Armenian civilians near the contact line near the Karmirshuka town. The shooting began at 10:30 a.m. local time and lasted for 15 minutes.

Karmirshuka is located in the south of the Nagorno-Karabakh region and near the contact lines between the Azerbaijani and Armenian government forces.

Also on Friday, December 2, the Azerbaijani border guards fired on an Armenian civilian in Martuni province in Rayon Khojavand.

Siran Sarkisian, a 65-year-old Armenian civilian living in the town of Chartar, was shot and killed while grazing livestock near a border post.

Azerbaijani sources have remained silent on the matter, but unofficial sources identify the dead man as an armed militant who had intended to sabotage.

The Foreign Ministry of the Artsakh (De facto) government condemned the actions and said in a statement: “The action of the Azerbaijani government against Armenian citizens is against international law and human rights, and Azerbaijan is openly violating all bilateral agreements so that the Armenian people forced to leave their homeland.”

Exchange of prisoners with map of minefields

According to the Sochi agreement, the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia exchanged prisoners and minefield maps with the mediation of the Russian Federation.

On Saturday, December 4, the Azerbaijani government released 10 Armenian prisoners of war taken hostage in the border clashes of November 16, and handed them over to the Russian mediating delegation. The released prisoners are Narek Yerimian, Araik Araklian, Serjik Amirkhanian, Georg Akopian, Robert Nalbandian, Harut Sarkisian, Artem Manasian, Eric Autisian, Armen Tusian, Tigran Akopian and were airlifted from Azerbaijan to Armenia.

According to Azerbaijani news sources, the Azerbaijani government is receiving a map of a number of minefields in the evacuated areas in Karabakh.

The Azerbaijani government has released a wounded Armenian prisoner in order to fulfill the agreements and has evacuated part of its forces from Mount Mets Ishkhanasar in the Syunik province of Armenia.