Azerbaijan releases eight Armenian prisoners in mediation effort with France and EU

European Council President Charles Michel addresses a news conference after an EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium December 17, 2021. Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - Azerbaijan has released eight Armenian prisoners in an effort to facilitate new talks with France and the European Union on the border conflict between to two central Asian countries, said European Council President Charles Michel on Monday.

"The release by Azerbaijan and reparation to Armenia of 8 Armenian detainees is another sign of positive developments following the meeting with @EmmanuelMacron, @azpresident and @NikolPashinyan," wrote Charles Michel on Twitter.

"The EU supports stability and prosperity in the region," added Michel.

Last October, Azeri troops drove ethnic Armenian forces out of territory they had controlled since the 1990s in and around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, before Russia brokered a ceasefire.

Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia had subsequently said last November that they had signed a deal to end the military conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region after more than a month of bloodshed. [

(Reporting by Tassilo Hummel and Elizabeth Pineau; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)