I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what my Russian counterpart says from her podium. Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson of the US Department of State, stated this at Thursday’s Department press briefing, commenting on the reaction by Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian foreign ministry, who questioned the US Secretary of State’s optimism on the results of last week’s Washington talks between the Armenian and the Azerbaijani FMs, as they "contradict the statements of Yerevan and Baku."
“What I can say, though, is that, as it relates to this very important issue of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it is something that this department will continue to remain deeply engaged on. We believe that there is a clear path forward. We obviously were happy to host these two countries at the beginning of May. We believe that those talks were fruitful and laid the groundwork for a continuation of these talks beginning in Brussels, and we’ll let that process play out,” Patel added.
