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“A number of incidents have been registered when both our and Azerbaijani servicemen engaged in hand-to-hand combat, while carrying weapons assigned to them. The same situation was recorded during the incident that took place this morning,” Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, Major-General Edward Asryan told a news conference on Thursday, referring to the capture of six Armenian soldiers by the Azerbaijani forces.

The high-ranking military officer explained this behavior by the fact that for 16 days the military-political leadership of Armenia has been trying to settle the situation peacefully.

Giving details of the incident, Asryan said this morning the Azerbaijani forces approached 4 Armenian servicemen who were carrying out engineering work in the border area of Gegharkunik Province, pointed weapons at them and demanded that they surrender. At the same time, according to Asryan, two other Armenian soldiers, who were at that moment at a certain distance, approached the Azeri troops to conduct negotiations.

“However, taking advantage of the numerical superiority and pursuing its vile policy, the enemy disarmed and captured six Armenian soldiers,” Asryan said.

According to him, relevant work is currently being carried out, adding negotiations are underway with the mediation of the Russian peacekeeping troops deployed in Artsakh. He said during the talks the Azerbaijani side set a number of conditions for the withdrawal of both the Azerbaijani troops from Armenian territory and Armenian forces from the new positions taken by them in the area early on Thursday.

“We have set our conditions, according to which our army units, that fully took up their positions from 5am to 10am, will pull back only on condition of the return of our captured servicemen. Other conditions are unacceptable for us,” he said.

Eduard Asryan stressed that the Armenian military units stand ready to fulfill the set tasks in those directions, adding, nevertheless, the military leadership is trying to resolve the issue through negotiations to avoid difficult situations.