WATCH: United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 14, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-NJ) leads a committee scrutiny into U.S. policy on Azerbaijan's genocidal blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) in a hearing featuring testimony by Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim.

The hearing is titled Assessing the Crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez accused Azerbaijan of committing ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and said that the U.S. should consider imposing sanctions.

"President Aliyev says he is not organizing ethnic cleansing but that is exactly what he is doing, by leveraging humanitarian aid he aims to either coerce the people of Artsakh into political submission or starve them to death. And given that he is reportedly amassing forces along the border, we must be vigilant about military action," he said.

Menendez said that the U.S. must demand Azerbaijan to stop threatening Armenians and open the Lachin Corridor.

"Talk is worthless when one participant in those talks is carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing,” Menendez added.

“What options do we have to compel the government in Baku to finally open access to the Lachin Corridor? What are we doing to dissuade Aliyev from starting yet another conflict? And why are we not more publicly considering sanctions for activity that I think we can all agree is clearly sanctionable?” the U.S. lawmaker said , addressing Acting Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Yuri Kim.