The situation over Karabakh has been stuck for a lot longer than Washington would want it to be, U.S. Assistant Secretary Philip Gordon told a briefing. “Any time there is an uptick in violence to any degree, it’s something that we’re very concerned about,” he added, U.S. State Department reports.

As to RA President’s proposal to Azerbaijani side to sign an agreement of not using force, Philip Gordon noted that both sides have made clear their commitment to the Helsinki Principles, the first of which is non-use of force or threat of force. “We’ll look to them to reiterate their commitment to all of the Helsinki Principles as part of this process,” he emphasized.

Asked whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will speak with Serzh Sargsyan about the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the regions around Nagorno-Karabakh that was also mentioned in the statement by Russian, U.S. and French Presidents, Gordon stated, “I think all of the principles that the presidents noted in their statement in Toronto – all of them together are very important to us and we would like to see movement on all of them and commitment to all of them.”

On June 18, an Azeri task force intruded into Nagorno-Karabakh, killing 4 Armenian soldiers and wounding 4 others. As a result of an encounter, the Azeris retreated, leaving one soldier killed.

On June 26, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, U.S. President Barack Obama, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy issued a statement on Nagorno-Karabakh. “We reaffirm our commitment to support the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan as they finalize the Basic Principles for the peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict,” the statement reads.