Ombudsperson of Nagorno-Karabakh reports number of POWs captured in Gadrut District

About 60 military servicemen disappeared in the vicinity of the village of Khtsaberd in the Gadrut District, Artak Beglaryan, the Ombudsperson, has stated. In his turn, Araik Arutyunyan, the president of the unrecognized republic, has stressed that the actions of the Azerbaijani Army are directed not so much against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh as against the Russian peacemakers.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of Nagorno-Karabakh reported that it had lost contact with the soldiers deployed at the combat posts set up near the villages of Khin Takher and Khtsaberd. Most of the missing soldiers had been recruited from the Shirak Region of Armenia; on Wednesday (December 16), their fellow countrymen blocked the Gyumri-Yerevan highway.

The information that dozens of soldiers had been captured was confirmed by Araik Arutyunyan, President of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Baku's actions are "disrespectful towards Russia," Mr Arutyunyan stressed during a live broadcast on the Facebook.

Aik Khanumyan, a former Nagorno-Karabakh's MP, has agreed with him. He treated the incident in the Gadrut District as "Turkish-Azerbaijani provocations." In his opinion, they are directed not so much against the Armenians as against the Russian presence in the Caucasus. "Turkey's goal is to overthrow the Russian peacemaking mission and thereby oust Russia from Southern Caucasus," Mr Khanumyan has stated.