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The joint military exercises of the US and Armenian troops are routine and are in no way tied to the tension between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Matthew Miller, Spokesperson of US Department of State, noted this during Monday’s Department press briefing.

Commenting on Russia’s negative reaction to these military exercises, Miler stated as follows: “I think that given Russia has invaded two of its neighbors in recent years, it should refrain from lecturing countries in the region about security arrangements.”

According to Miller, the US has been collaborating with Armenia in the security sector since 2003. He called the latest Armenian-US joint military exercises “a routine exercise that is in no way tied to any other events.”

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We are deeply concerned about the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. Matthew Miller, Spokesperson of US Department of State, noted this during Monday’s Department press briefing.

“We repeat our call, as the [US] Secretary [of State Antony Blinken] did in a statement over the weekend, for the immediate and simultaneous opening of the Lachin and Aghdam routes to allow passage of desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the men and women and children in Nagorno-Karabakh.  We urge the leaders, as the Secretary did in his calls, against taking any actions that raise tensions or distract from this goal.

“And I will say, in addition, we have consistently stressed this need for open—to open routes in Nagorno-Karabakh and for a dialogue between the parties.  While it is important that Nagorno-Karabakh have credible representatives for this process, as we have said in the past, we do not recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent and sovereign state, and therefore we do not recognize the results of those so-called presidential elections that were announced over the last few days.

“So I will say that the United States will continue to strongly support efforts by Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve outstanding issues through direct dialogue, and that’s why Secretary Blinken and [US] Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations Lou Bono have been consistently engaged, and we will stay consistently engaged on this question,” Miller added.

When asked whether the US State Department was sacrificing human rights for peace talks, the Department spox replied as follows: “I just made very clear that we want both quarters to be reopened to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance into Nagorno-Karabakh, and the Secretary made that clear to the leaders of both Armenia and Azerbaijan over the weekend, as have other representatives from the State Department and the United States Government.  So no, I would not agree to that characterization at all.”

And when asked whether US Secretary of State Blinken mentioned the human rights situation in Azerbaijan during his telephonic conversation with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Matthew Miller said that he did not have a specific readout on that.

“These calls were about the crisis situation on the ground right now and trying to resolve it,” he added.

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