The US has seen significant evidence of Azerbaijan shelling inside Armenia. US State Department spokesman Ned Price announced this at Tuesday’s Department press briefing—and responding to the reporters' question about why US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has addressed the president of Azerbaijan with calls for a ceasefire.

At the same time, Price refrained from placing the accountability for the escalation of the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict on this or that country.

“We have seen significant evidence of Azerbaijani shelling inside Armenia and significant damage to Armenian infrastructure. But most important for us is that both of these parties commit to a cessation of hostilities and commit to a broader de-escalation,” the State Department spokesman said. 

Also, Price called on Russia to use its influence in the region to help stop hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“There is also no question that Russia has outsized influence with both Azerbaijan and Armenia. We have called on Russia, and we do call on Russia to use that influence and to use that leverage in a way that helps to achieve a cessation of hostilities, and more broadly a de-escalation of those tensions. (…). Russia could use that influence for ill; it could use that influence to help bring about what it is we all seek, and that’s an immediate end to this violence and a de escalation of tensions,” noted the US State Department spokesman.