Senior Advisor to the US State Department for Negotiations in the South Caucasus, Louis Bono, met with Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov, the Press Service of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reports.

“During the meeting, the situation in the region, normalization and peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, current threats and challenges were discussed,” the statement said. Bayramov told Bono that “the obstacle to the implementation of the agreement on the simultaneous opening of the [Akna-Stepanakert] Agdam-Khankendi and [Berdzor] Lachin Corridor, reached during the conversation between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on September 1, is Armenia and the illegal regime it created.”

At the same time, Bayramov began to deny the fact of the blockade and humanitarian crisis in Artsakh.

“Jeyhun Bayramov emphasized the unacceptability of international partners, including the United States, repeating the claims of the Armenian side, despite their well-informed understanding of the situation in the region. He further highlighted that despite Armenia's ongoing military and political provocations, its worldwide defamation campaign against Azerbaijan, and its support for separatism on our territories, Azerbaijan continues to maintain a constructive stance. […] The head of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expressed regret that the unfounded allegations of Armenia, which it spreads in order to divert attention from the presence of Armenian armed forces in Azerbaijani territories and mislead the international community, were reflected in the speech of the acting US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim", the statement further reads.