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.
State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a May 11 press briefing that "this kind of violence, we believe it undermines the progress made by Armenia and Azerbaijan toward a durable and dignified peace," and called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to reach an agreement at their upcoming summit in Brussels on May 14th to "distance their forces along the border, as discussed by Secretary Blinken during their participation of these negotiations that we hosted here in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of May."
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.
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.
