“We think that the summit on Nagorno Karabakh offered the presidents an important opportunity to meet face to face for the first time in over a year and to clarify their positions,” Spokesperson of the US Department of State John Kirby told a daily briefing.
“The presidents themselves recognized that the situation on the ground has deteriorated and expressed concern about civilian casualties caused by the use of heavy weapons. At their request, the Minsk Group co-chairs will continue to work on proposals to reduce the risk of violence. The co-chairs are also prepared to support a meeting of the presidents next year to continue their discussions on a settlement,” Kirby said.
“As a co-chair country, the United States remains firmly committed to mediating a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” he said.
“We support proposals to reduce the risk of violence along the line of contact. Our Minsk Group co-chair, Ambassador Warlick, together with his Russian and French counterparts, continues to discuss these – all these measures with both sides. Another way to reduce tensions, we believe, is to increase people-to-people contacts, especially among the communities of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenians and Azerbaijanis live side by side for generations, and we believe that for peace to come, they will need to trust each other once again,” the Spokesman said.