The United States and France want more clarity from Russia on the terms of a complete cessation of hostilities in and around Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), as well as on Turkey's role in the respective agreements. Senior officials of the US Department of State told journalists about this at the briefing, the transcript of which has been posted on the State Department website.

They were asked about the talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Paris.

“They talked about Nagorno-Karabakh extensively.  As two co-chairs, they shared the same view that we are – we remain committed to our role as co-chairs in the Minsk Group process, that that’s where it is, recognizing the actions that Russia took which has led to a ceasefire that’s actually held now for about a week, but also acknowledging that there were still a lot of questions that needed clarity from the Russians as to the parameters of that agreement, and that included the role of the Turks,” noted one of the senior officials of the US Department of State.

“And so more to be learned from that.  They both noted that the Russians have invited the co-chairs to Moscow for more clarity, and as you probably have seen in the wires, there have been phone calls between and among the co-chairs.  Foreign Minister Le Drian noted that he had spoken to Lavrov, who acknowledged that they were trying to take action to stop what was really an emergency humanitarian situation, but there do remain questions to be discussed about that,” the senior official added.

“So a lot of talk about Nagorno-Karabakh, the Caucasus, and then broadly also about Turkey and the various areas where we’re – we have some concerns and differences with the Turks – various theaters across the region from the Eastern Med, Libya, Syria, and other parts,” the US Department of State senior official stated.  

On November 9, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement on a complete cessation of hostilities in and around Artsakh. Accordingly, Russian peacekeepers will be deployed in the region to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities. But this statement also stipulates the handover of part of Artsakh lands to Azerbaijan.