YEREVAN, MAY 24, ARMENPRESS. The US Department of State has published the briefing of two senior US officials, whose names are not mentioned. They answered the questions of reporters and referred to the Vienna meeting of Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents.

“Armenpress” reports, citing the official website of the US Department of State, the first senior official told that since 1994 there has been a ceasefire in place. “Some call it a frozen conflict but it’s far from frozen. There have been, over the past 20 years, repeated incidents along the so-called line of contact and along the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. There are literally dozens of casualties each year, and as you may know, fighting flared up dramatically in early April, April 2 to April 5 – so-called 4-day war – with hundreds of casualties – an estimated 350 casualties including civilians”, he said, adding that the aim of the Sargsyan-Aliyev Vienna meeting was to persuade the sides to respect the 1994 ceasefire, as well as to come with some confidence building proposals. He also mentioned that they want to see the resumption of the peace talks leading to a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.

According to the official, both sides stated at the meeting on May 16 that preservation of the status-quo is unacceptable and that it is necessary to take measures aimed at the settlement of the conflict.

The official also touched upon the monitoring mission in the conflict zone, noting that the 6 observers are too few to act effectively and that it is necessary to increase their number, as well as to invest mechanisms monitoring the ceasefire violations. The American diplomat emphasized that Azerbaijan opposes these measures and the the aim of the Vienna talks was to change the position of Azerbaijan.