The US State Department has confirmed that US, EU and Russian officials held a meeting in Istanbul, days before Azerbaijan’s large-scale offensive against Nagorno Karabakh.
“We engage with stakeholders and interlocutors in the region quite regularly, and the meeting in Istanbul on September 17th came together to address specifically urgent humanitarian issues and the provision of potential humanitarian aid in Nagorno-Karabakh. That’s what that meeting was about,” Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the Department of State Vedant Patel told reporters at a briefing.
The comments come after POLITICO reported on Wednesday that top officials from the United States and the EU met with their Russian counterparts for “undisclosed emergency talks” in Turkey on September 17.
According to the source, the US was represented by Louis Bono, Washington’s senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations, while the EU dispatched Toivo Klaar, its representative for the region. Russia, meanwhile, sent Igor Khovaev, who serves as Putin’s special envoy on relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
“The US remains deeply engaged on the situation and we continue to be committed to helping the parties achieve a lasting peace in the South Caucasus,” he said.
“We continue to believe that dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues to be incredibly important to finding a dignified and durable peace for the South Caucasus. It’s why the Secretary has engaged on this so personally, continuing to speak with counterparts and interlocutors in both countries,” the Spokesman stated.
