Armenian Foreign Minister Ara Aivazian met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Monday, December 7 and noted that the issue of the search for missing servicemen, the exchange of prisoners of war and the bodies of the dead is very sensitive and requires a prompt resolution.

"This is especially true in light of incoming information about the numerous and confirmed facts of barbaric – in the literal sense of the word – treatment of prisoners of war and not only," Aivazian said, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anna Naghdalyan.

"Among such matters is the issue of preserving Armenian religious and cultural sites."

The meeting comes almost a month after Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan signed a statement on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, which also envisages the exchange of POWs, hostages and other detained persons, and bodies of the dead.