U.S. continues to be greatly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh – State Department spox

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The United States is greatly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and is calling for unimpeded humanitarian access to the region, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a press briefing.

“I will say that we continue to be greatly concerned about the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. We think it’s important that residents of Nagorno-Karabakh be able to make the decision to leave if they want to leave and to be able to return if they want to return. It’s a decision that they all have to make as individuals, but we think it’s important that they be able to make that decision for themselves. And we think there ought to be unhindered humanitarian access to the region to make sure that populations in need can get the support that they require,” Miller said.

The State Department spokesperson also commented on the USAID deployment of a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in the South Caucasus region to coordinate the U.S. humanitarian response.

“That team will assess the situation and identify priority needs to scale up assistance and work with partners to provide urgently needed aid,” Miller said.

He repeated the need for maintaining the ceasefire and ensuring humanitarian needs.

“I think what I would reiterate with respect to Nagorno-Karabakh is that overall, we think it’s important that the ceasefire be maintained, that the humanitarian needs be addressed, and that an independent international mission to provide transparency, reassurance, and confidence to the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh be established as soon as possible. That is our priority for dealing with the immediate situation and one that we are working to get off the ground.”