AZERBAIJAN: MR. BRYZA GOES TO BAKU?

June 15, 2009

US Assistant Deputy Secretary of State for European and Eurasian
Affairs Matthew Bryza has denied a June 12 report in Foreign Policy
magazine that he may become Washington’s new ambassador to Azerbaijan.

In a June 15 interview with the Azerbaijani news service ANS Press,
Bryza was cited as saying that he had not been nominated for the
post. The citation did not include a direct quote. Bryza affirmed
that he had not "planned on abandoning the OSCE Minsk Group [which
oversees negotiations about Nagorno Karabakh between Azerbaijan and
Armenia] in July" and hopes for "more fruitful work" by the Group.

Foreign Policy did not name its sources apart from "[t]wo Washington
Russia hands." Media in the South Caucasus have picked up on the
report, but neither the White House nor Baku confirmed the information.