US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday confirmed "significant progress" in negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington, saying an agreement to end tensions was "within reach".
But talks between Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijan's Jeyhun Bayramov, hosted by Washington for four days, did not produce any agreement to end a decades-old conflict between the former Soviet republics.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars, the first in the early nineties of the last century and the second in 2020, with the aim of controlling the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is inhabited by a majority of Armenians and seceded unilaterally from Azerbaijan three decades ago.
On Thursday, Blinken said at the end of the talks that "the two sides have discussed in the last few days very difficult issues and have made tangible progress toward a sustainable peace agreement." "I hope they touch, and I think they're like me, that there is an agreement on the horizon and within reach."
"Reaching that agreement will not only be historic, I believe, but will go deep into the interests of the peoples of Azerbaijan and Armenia," he said.
Blinken later noted that the two sides had "shown a sincere commitment" to normalizing relations and ending the conflict.
"Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed in principle on some things," Blinken said, adding that each side now "better understands each other's positions on outstanding issues."
Blinken stressed that he had proposed to "the two secretaries that they return to their capitals" to consult with their governments.
Washington hosted talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministers over 4 days (Anatolia)
The two countries issued identical statements following the talks indicating that they had presented their positions on normalization. The statements noted "progress" but spoke of "divergence of positions on a number of key issues".
"The parties agreed to continue talks," the statements said.
The US secretary of state acknowledged the difficulty of this but stressed the seriousness of "commitment and determination to move forward on the rest of the thorny issues," and Blinken said: "The last mile of any marathon is always the hardest. We know that," he said, noting that the United States "will continue to help (our two friendly countries) cross the finish line."
After a blitzkrieg in which Baku seized territory in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in autumn 2020, Baku and Yerevan signed a Moscow-brokered ceasefire.
Since then, Russian soldiers have been deployed to oversee compliance with the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh, but Armenia has complained for months about their ineffectiveness.
Tensions were renewed when Baku announced on April 23 that it had set up the first checkpoint at the entrance to the Lachin corridor, the only land link between Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been under siege for several months that has caused shortages of goods and electricity. Armenia considered a move that Armenia considered a violation of the recent ceasefire announced between the two sides.
Russia said on Tuesday there was "no alternative" to its mediation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press: "At this stage, there are no other legal rules that can contribute to the settlement (of the conflict). There is no alternative to these trilateral documents," he said, referring to the agreement signed between Moscow and the conflicting sides in 2020.