According to the March 5 agreement achieved by the Presidents of the Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijani Republic under the mediation of the President of the Russian Federation in Sochi, on March 17, at 2:58 pm of local time, in the section near the village of Bash Karvend of the border between the Nagorno Karabakh Republic and the Azerbaijani Republic, the Karabakh party, under the promotion of the ICRC Stepanakert and Yerevan Offices, passed sergeant of the Azerbaijani army Anar Hadjiev, taken prisoner in the NKR territory, to representatives of Azerbaijan.

Simultaneously, inhabitant of the village of Aghartsin of Armenia's Tavush provice Arthur Badalyan, 33, was transferred to the Armenian party, said the state commission of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic on prisoners of war, hostages, and missing persons.

The authorities of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic did their utmost to promote the process of exchanging the POWs.