‘It’s Disappointing’: US State Department Responds to Sargsyan-Aliyev Meeting

As you know, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan were not able to agree on the basic principles (for settling the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) when they met in Kazan, said US Department of State spokesperson Victoria Nuland during a daily press briefing on Monday.

“However, in their joint statement with [Russian] President [Dmitry] Medvedev, both of them noted that they had improved their understanding on a number of issues, agreed to keep working on the basic principles, and to come back together at a future date to be specified. But I would say it’s disappointing,” she said in a response to a question on her reaction to the meeting — “a gesture that the US spoke approvingly of, and reportedly it was a failure.”

Earlier, Russian-language news source Kommersant had reported that future negotiations between presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan Serzh Sargsyan and Ilham Aliyev may take place without Medvedev’s participation. According to an unnamed Kommersant source, the Russian president was “so disappointed” that the parties failed to agree on a road map that he was ready to terminate his role as mediator. The source said Medvedev is prepared to organize the next meeting only if the two presidents finally sign a document on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.