Azerbaijan's illegal checkpoint at the Lachin Corridor

Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan the importance of lifting the seven-month-long blockade of Artsakh.

“Secretary of State Blinken emphasized the need for free movement of commercial, humanitarian and private vehicles through the Lachin Corridor. He emphasized that both sides should maintain the positive progress of the negotiations leading to a lasting and dignified peace,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Blinken also expressed the continued support of the United States to the Armenia-Azerbaijan and emphasized the need for flexibility and compromise in negotiations.

At an earlier press briefing, Miller said that during the last meeting held in Washington, the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov “narrowed down the scope of the issues that still remain unresolved.”

“When we say that [peace] is close, we mean that they have made significant progress on a number of issues. So we think that given the reduction in the number of issues to be resolved, agreement is close,” Miller added.

He emphasized that in order to reach a peace treaty, both sides must have willingness for compromise. Miller said that there are no upcoming meetings scheduled between Mirzoyan and Bayramov.

Armenia’s National Security chief Armen Grigoryan, who is on a working visit to the U.S. met with Samantha Power, the director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

According to a press statement, Grigoyan briefed Power about the worsening humanitarian crisis created in Nagorno-Karabakh as a result of the blockade of the Lachin Corridor and its consequences.