US Secretary of State Antony Blinken believes that Azerbaijan and Armenia may soon sign a peace agreement, the RFE/RL Armenian Service reports.
Speaking Wednesday at a hearing held in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the US Congress, Blinken said he believes that there is such a possibility, he does want to exaggerate, but a possibility that enables to actually complete the preparation of this peace agreement.
Blinken said that he met with Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev during the Munich Security Conference, the FMs of the two countries were recently in Washington, he expects that they will return, and they worked on the text of that peace agreement.
According to the head of the US foreign policy, he actively deals with the issue of settlement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, helping the parties reach a peace agreement that will normalize relations between Baku and Yerevan, as well as refer to the rights and protection of ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, border delimitation, etc.
Blinken said they do not impose this on Armenia, they are responding to the great desire expressed by Armenia to see if they can help them reach an agreement that would at least largely end the more than 30-year conflict.
At the same time, he noted the real problems in the Lachin corridor. Blinken said he is putting pressure on Azerbaijan, including this week, to reopen this corridor, they are working on it, and without exaggeration, he believes that now there is a favorable moment which will deeply suit the interests of Armenia, as well as Azerbaijan.