The role of the US in this process is not mediation, and it is not here to impose a text, to wrap conditions around the neck of any of the parties. This was stated by Luis Bono, the US Senior Advisor for Caucasus Negotiations and new US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, in an interview with the RFE/RL Armenian Service, when asked whether the US is ready to take over mediation of the dialogue between Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

What they are trying to do is facilitate peace, they want the parties themselves to work out the text and the terms, agree on them together, and they must work on it together, Bono said, adding that because any lasting, sustainable, and balanced peace must come from both sides; it cannot come from a third party, from outside.

Reflecting on the recent bloody Azerbaijani provocation in Karabakh, Bono said he arrived in Azerbaijani capital Baku on Sunday evening, and when I got off the plane, he learned the very disturbing news of the tragedy that happened in Nagorno-Karabakh earlier inn the day. Bono noted that for him, this only reinforced the importance of his mission, the need to end this conflict. He said they see no other way than to work closely with the parties—both with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan—to establish peace that will be lasting and balanced.