The United States Department of State has commented on the May 11 Azerbaijani attack on Armenia, stating that ‘this kind of violence’ undermines the progress made by the two countries during their talks.
Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, stated this at Thursday’s Department press briefing, commenting on the recent escalation of tension on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.
“This kind of violence [on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border], we believe it undermines the progress made by Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a durable and dignified peace, and we call on the leaders of both of these countries that when they convene in Brussels on the 14th to a—that these two parties agree to distance their forces along the border, as discussed by [US] Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken during their participation of these negotiations that we hosted here in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May,” Patel said.
Commenting on the foreign ministerial talks hosted by the U.S. in early May, Patel said they view these negotiations “as important, positive steps in which we felt the two countries had the opportunity to engage on some important issues, see the other side’s point of view.” “And we believe that there continues to be a durable path forward. We believe that there is a peaceful solution to this. It’s why we, from the Secretary on down, have continued to be so deeply engaged on this. But I’m not going to get ahead of these talks themselves,” Patel added.
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The State Department spokesperson added that the U.S. was “obviously were happy to host these two countries at the beginning of May.”
“We believe that those talks were fruitful and laid the groundwork for a continuation of these talks beginning in Brussels, and we’ll let that process play out,” Patel said.