During Friday’s Department press briefing, US Department of State principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel accused Russia of disrupting the efforts by the OSCE Minsk Group towards the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement.

According to him, promoting peace in the South Caucasus remains an enduring priority for not just the US administration, but for Secretary of State Antony Blinken,  in particular, as evidenced by his direct outreach and engagement on these issues directly with leaders in Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“And this is something that we are going to continue to stay focused on. As it relates to Russia, they have taken – the (…) fact is that Russian aggression and unilateralism has undermined a number of lines of efforts, undermined a number of prospects for productive work in the [OSCE] Minsk Group format," Patel said.

The State Department representative added that the US "remains firmly committed to engagement on any and all avenues for the promotion of peace, whether that be bilaterally, whether that be through mechanisms within the EU, whether that be via the OSCE."

"Promoting peace in the South Caucasus remains an enduring priority for us," Patel said.