U.S. State Department comments on Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan

Any country needs to treat all detainees humanely and in accordance with international law, a U.S. State Department spokesperson has said when asked whether Washington could help the Armenian POWs held in Azerbaijan.

The topic was brought up at the press briefing after the West and Russia conducted what has been described as the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

“So, on the context of the broader situation in the South Caucasus, this is something that the Secretary and the department continue to be deeply engaged on,” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said. “I don’t have any updates as it relates to that process. And look, when it comes to detainees, we have been clear and consistent that any country needs to treat all detainees humanely, with dignity, and in accordance with international law, and needs to respect detainees’ human rights, and that continues to be true in this case as well.”

55 Armenians are held captive in Azerbaijan but the Aliyev administration has only acknowledged 23 of them, according to a senior Armenian law enforcement official.