A journalist asked Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson of US State Department, to help better understand the first line in his readout of the Secretary Antony Bliken’s calls with both Yerevan and Baku. “You said he called them to offer continued U.S. assistance in facilitating peace discussions. You had last week a senior advisor in the region was engaging with the sides. Why would the Secretary make that call to ask for U.S. facilitation?” journalist asked.
“He was offering his continued support on the U.S.’s assistance in these engagements, which as you know, is something that we have remained quite committed on. Obviously through Secretary Blinken’s commitment to this issue, when Ambassador Reeker was leading this portfolio through his work, and now through the work of Lou Bono as well,” Patel answered.
The journalist also asked whether the Secretary raised human rights issues.
“I don’t have specifics to get into about the diplomatic engagements, Alex, beyond what was in the readout. But of course, human rights is something that we raise regularly with all our partners, including those in the South Caucasus,” Patel stated.
