On November 17, Deputy Minister of Defence of the Republic of Armenia Gabriel Balayan received head of the delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Armenia Mrs. Claire Meytraud, as well as Mr. Thierry Ribo, who will assume the post of the head of the delegation a few weeks later.

During the meeting G. Balayan noted that the Armenian side attaches great importance to the activities being carried out with the involvement of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross to remove the bodies of the servicemen killed as a result of the military operations along the entire length of the Artsakh-Azerbaijani frontline unleashed on September 27 as a result of the Azerbaijani-Turkish aggression, carry out search operations for the missing in action and wounded, clarify the fate of the prisoners of war and other detainees, as well as to the assistance of ICRC to the civilian population affected by the military operations.

The Armenian side presented a specially developed map showing the exact locations of the bodies of the killed servicemen, as well as the missing persons to the ICRC delegation, which, in an updated mode, will be provided to the ICRC delegation on a daily basis in order to carry out search operations more operatively.

During the meeting, the sides stressed the importance of starting the activities for searching for the missing servicemen and civilians in the places where the combat operations took place, as well as for removing and exchanging the bodies of the killed servicemen with the involvement of the Russian peacekeeping contingent and delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In her turn, the head of the ICRC office in Yerevan assured that ICRC, as a neutral and impartial organization, will continue its humanitarian mediation mission in the implementation of the above-mentioned process.

The Armenian side once again called the International Committee of the Red Cross to negotiate more convincingly with the Azerbaijani authorities through its delegation in Baku and within the framework of its competences on the implementation of the activities to remove the bodies of the killed servicemen, clarify the fate of the missing persons, provide information on the prisoners of war and other detainees and organize regular visits to the latter.        

The importance of ensuring the coordination of the joint activities of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Armenian side was noted.

Taking the opportunity, G. Balayan greeted Mr. Thierry Ribo, who in a month will take over as head of the delegation and wished him success in his responsible work.