(Washington) The United States, which recently hosted talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, on Thursday called on the two countries to resume dialogue, despite renewed tensions on the ground.
“We believe that sustainable progress is always possible. We believe there is a peaceful solution to this,” US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
An Azerbaijani soldier was killed on Thursday in fresh clashes on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which accused each other of “mortar fire” and “heavy weapons” and “provocations” at the border.
“Violence like this, we believe, undermines progress […] towards a dignified and lasting peace” between these two Caucasian countries, which have been fighting over the Nagorny Karabakh region for three decades.
Vedant Patel asked that the two leaders, who are due to meet in Brussels on Sunday, “agree to move their troops away along the border”, as proposed by the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken .