Armenia To Free Azeri Soldier RFE/RL Armenian Service
In what they called a show of goodwill, the Armenian authorities said on Monday that they will free and repatriate an Azerbaijani soldier who crossed into Armenia on February 28.
The soldier, Ruslan Panahov, was detained by Armenian troops early in the morning outside the border village of Tegh. Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry said he lost his way and went missing due to bad weather.
Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) said an investigation conducted by another law-enforcement agency found that Panahov crossed the border after fleeing an Azerbaijani army post because of an “incident” between servicemen manning it. The NSS gave no details of the incident.
An NSS statement added that Yerevan has decided to hand over Panahov to Azerbaijani authorities “as a manifestation of goodwill” and in compliance with an Armenian-Azerbaijani agreement to swiftly repatriate soldiers straying into each other’s territory. The agreement had been reached “at the highest level,” it said.
A member of Tegh’s local council, Argam Hovsepian, claimed last week that Panahov crossed the border together with another Azerbaijani soldier. The latter “ran away” after being spotted by Armenian servicemen, Hovsepian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. The NSS did not confirm that.
Hovsepian also said that shortly before the incident some village residents heard angry shouts and even gunshots from the Azerbaijani side of the frontier.
Two other Azerbaijani soldiers were detained last April after crossing into Syunik province from Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. One of them was subsequently convicted by Armenian courts of murdering a Syunik resident the day before his detention. Armenia freed both men in December in exchange for Azerbaijan’s release of 32 Armenian soldiers and civilians.
