MOSCOW, August 31. /TASS/. Armenia has fulfilled its commitments and released Azerbaijani prisoners and is expecting Baku to do the same, visiting Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on Tuesday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"Armenia fulfilled its liabilities on this matter long ago. The Armenian side released all Azerbaijani prisoners under the all-for-all principle. We believe, as Minister Lavrov has already said, that Azerbaijan also must release all Armenian prisoners and other persons it keeps not only as the implementation of its commitments under the November 9 statement but also in the interests of creating an atmosphere of trust," he said.

According to the Armenian top diplomat, "when the atmosphere of trust is created it will be possible to proceed to further processes of discussing issues of the final settlement."

Renewed clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia erupted on September 27, 2020, with intense battles raging in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. On November 9, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement on a complete ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh. Under the document, the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides stopped at the positions that they had held and Russian peacekeepers were deployed along the engagement line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Lachinsky corridor that connects Armenia with the enclave to exercise control of the ceasefire observance. Apart from that, a number of districts came over to Baku’s control.

Provision eight of the document envisages an exchange of prisoners in the all-for-all format. Armenia demands Azerbaijan release all the Armenian nationals it holds. Yerevan has repeatedly stressed that the release on prisoners is a priority matter of any discussions of issues of the settlement in the region.