Blinken Discusses Peace Agreement With Armenia, Azerbaijan Foreign Ministers - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with his Armenian and Azerbaijan counterparts, Ararat Mirzoyan and Jeyhun Bayramov, on reaching a peace agreement between the two countries, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

“Secretary Blinken expressed our appreciation for the positive steps Armenia and Azerbaijan are taking towards reaching a sustainable peace agreement.  In a week that has been marked by too much violence, including the deaths of Armenian soldiers and Azerbaijani civilians in landmine explosions, he welcomed the meeting between the ministers on October 2 as an important step forward in the peace process,” Price said on Tuesday.

Blinken commended both sides for their decision to exchange prisoners of war and confirmed the US commitment to help them resolve all issues through diplomacy, Price added.

On September 12, new clashes broke out on the Armenian-Azerbaijan border in an area unrelated to the breakaway region Nagorno-Karabakh region - also known as the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh. Baku and Yerevan accused each other of ongoing shelling and reported losses in their ranks.

By September 13, the parties agreed on a ceasefire that was reached thanks to talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Russian upper house of Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee Grigory Karasin told Sputnik. 

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) reached an agreement to send a mission led by CSTO Secretary General Stanislav Zas to Armenia.