ArmInfo.The U.S. State Department expressed concern about the Russian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Thus, on October 3, during a briefing, Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State Vedant Patel, when asked to comment on the reasonability of the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno- Karabakh, against the backdrop of the exodus of the entire Armenian population, noted that he did not want to speculate on this topic.
"Of course, that that kind of presence continues to be concerning. But the United States is going to continue to remain focused on engaging with Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership on this, and doing whatever we can to continue to have a dignified and durable peace on this," he said, in response to the question whether it could be that the real goal of the Russian presence in the region is for not maintain the peace in Karabakh but to keep the piece of Karabakh?"
When asked whether "the United States will defend Armenia from potential Russian aggression," Patel noted that this is a rather hypothetical statement and he would not want to go into details.
" That is a - is quite the hypothetical, Alex, that I don't want to get into. What I will say, though, is that the United States is going to continue to play a role in engaging with Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership at the highest levels to pursue a dignified and durable peace. And you've also seen us, over the course of this past week and beyond, reiterate our call for a longer-term, independent, international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh to provide transparency and reassurances that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians will be protected, particularly for those who may wish to return, and for the protection of cultural heritage sites, which all of course is in line with Azerbaijan's public statements and their international obligations as well," the US State Department representative added.
Commenting on the visit of the UN team to Karabakh, where they "did not see any damage to civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and housing, as well as cultural and religious sites,"Patel noted: "So we certainly appreciate that - those comments from the UN spokesperson.
But that does not change the United States' point of view on this. As I just said to Alex, we continue to believe, even in the light of the UN visit, that there is a strong desire and a need for a longer-term, independent international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. We think that that will provide transparency; we think that it will provide the appropriate reassurances for the various rights and securities that we continue to be deeply concerned about," he concluded.