The Situation is Deteriorating: US Discusses Armenian-Azerbaijani Relations and the Lachin Corridor

The spokesperson of the US State Department, Ned Price, in response to a journalist's question regarding Secretary Blinken's recent phone conversations with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, stated that the US State Department hopes that direct dialogue between Yerevan and Baku will resume, leading to the resolution of issues over which the parties have long-standing disagreements.

“Through that dialogue, we hope it will be possible to achieve lasting peace. We continue to have direct discussions with both Armenia and Azerbaijan. We do this both bilaterally, with our partners, and through multilateral organizations. Last year, we also had multiple opportunities to organize meetings in a trilateral format. We will continue to do everything that is most effective in addressing these quite acute issues,” Price informed, according to Voice of America.

Price pointed out that the US side is well aware of the situation and has various concerns, one of which is the situation surrounding the Lachin corridor. “We are concerned that the situation there is deteriorating. The humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh is drawing attention not only from the Secretary of State but also from other officials in this building. The continuous obstruction of normal commercial and private traffic along the Lachin corridor is leading to shortages of food, fuel, and medicine for the population dependent on the corridor, as well as disrupting the main supplies of essential goods here,” he noted.