ArmInfo.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an opportunity today to speak to the leader of Armenia, and is expected to have an opportunity in the coming days to speak to President Aliyev, Ned Price, Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State, told a news briefing on Wednesday.
Thank you so much. The Secretary today spoke with Armenian prime minister. Did he have a chance to dial Baku as well?
As to whether it is "the process of putting together another round of meeting, or the Secretary is just trying to test the waters with the side to see if there's any appetite for next round of dialogue," Mr Price said:
"We're going to do what is ultimately most helpful. And at the end of last year, there were a couple meetings that the Secretary chaired between his counterparts, a trilateral meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan, with Secretary Blinken in the middle. We did that at Blair House. We did that in New York. Of course, we've seen setbacks when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh of late. We want to see constructive dialogue put back on track. We stand ready to engage bilaterally. We stand ready to engage with and through partners, through the OSCE or, if and when appropriate, trilaterally, as we have done in the past."
As to the meeting level, Mr Price said:
"So, of course, Ambassador Reeker did retire from the Department of State after an illustrious 30-year career just last week. But there are a number of individuals in this department who are deeply invested in this process, not the least of whom is Secretary Blinken himself. This is a personal priority of his. But people like Toria Nuland, people like Karen Donfried, people like a number of the senior officials in our Bureau of European and Eurasian affairs, will remain deeply engaged in this."
And it is for Yerevan and Baku to decide, he added.