U.S. Senate passes Act blocking U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan

ArmInfo.The American Senate adopted a pro-Armenian project - S. 3000 (IS) - Armenian Protection  Act of 2023, depriving Azerbaijan of military support.

Thus, senators voted for a document that does not allow the president  to use Public Law 107-115. The bill prohibits the President from  waiving Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act for the next two  years.  U.S. Senator Gary Peters (MI) introduced the bipartisan bill  on September 29, 2023 in response to the Azerbaijani government's  attacks on Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.

If the project is adopted by the House of Representatives and signed  by the head of state, it will prohibit the US President from waiving  Section 907  and receive funding to help Azerbaijan from budget  allocations for 2024-2025.

In October 1992, the U.S. Congress passed a law called the Freedom  Defending Act, regulating the provision of government assistance to  the former Soviet republics. 

According to Section 907  of this law, the U.S. government was  prohibited from providing assistance to official bodies of  Azerbaijan. Section 907 has been suspended by the President of the  United States since 2002 (after the events of September 11, 2001) on  an annual basis, in accordance with the powers that Congress granted  him in 2001.

Yesterday, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian  Affairs James O'Brien said at a hearing in the Foreign Relations  Committee: ""We have made it clear that nothing will be normal with  Azerbaijan after the developments of September 19 until we see  progress on a peaceful track. "So we have canceled a number of  high-level visits, condemned [Baku's] actions, and we do not  anticipate submitting a waiver [of further aid] until we see a  genuine improvement in the situation," the diplomat said.  "We have  repeatedly signaled that the use of force inside Armenia is  completely unacceptable. And we are very closely monitoring troop  movements and any signs that they may have certain plans. As I  indicated, we have told them that there is no chance of business as  usual  with Azerbaijan, as long as the peace agreement between Baku  and Yerevan goes unconcluded," the top State Department official in  charge of Europe and Eurasia  said.

The statements of the American official in Baku have already been  called "one-sided and biased", as well as "counterproductive,  groundless and unacceptable". The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated  that allegedly "the US's unilateral approach could lead to the US  losing its role as a mediator." "It is important to note that under  these conditions we do not consider it possible to hold a meeting at  the level of the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on  November 20, 2023 in Washington," the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry  said in a commentary.