At a second high-level meeting in less than five weeks chaired by him, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hosted on Monday the Armenian and Azerbaijani Foreign Ministers Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov.
In a bid to elevate the Biden administration’s role as a mediator in the South Caucasus, Blinken reiterated Washington’s commitment to peace negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, stressing that the best way to a truly durable peace is the direct dialogue.
Yerevan and Baku accused each other before the meeting of breaking a fragile truce in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In light of the truce that Washington brokered last September, the State Secretary praised the real and courageous steps taken by both Armenia and Azerbaijan to put the past behind them and to work toward peace.
He noted the deep scars and the tremendous toll that the 30-year conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region has had taken, reiterating that Washington strongly supports the sovereignty and territorial independence of both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The conflict over the landlocked region of Nagorno-Karabakh dates back to 1991 when, in a move supported by Yerevan, Armenian separatists seized the area after the collapse of the Soviet Union, fueling a war that forced hundreds of thousands from their homes and killed nearly 30,000 people.
The US, Russia, and France mediated a ceasefire in 1994, but fighting erupts frequently regardless and peace negotiations struggle to move forward.
Blinken’s increased focus on the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, according to Ryan Bohl, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Rane, is beyond the typical Biden agenda of stability and human rights and is also meant to undercut Moscow which is now entangled in the war it created by invading Ukraine.
This meeting, as Bohl noted, also means bolstering Washington’s reputation as a peace broker, adding that, however, the US will rather lean on soft power and defense sales rather than sending peacekeepers.
Underscoring that the Russians can no longer police their own backyard being so tied up in Ukraine, Bohl pointed out that the meeting in Washington was a clear shot at Russian influence in the post-Soviet space.
Before the war in Ukraine, Russia was seen as the major power broker in the region, maintaining close ties with Yerevan and leading the Collective Security Treaty Organisation military alliance of ex-Soviet countries, which includes Armenia.
Since its defense budget is overshadowed by Azerbaijan’s spending on arms, Yerevan relies heavily on Russian support and military guarantees.
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