U.S. Administration will henceforth take on a harder line on  Azerbaijan - Seth Magaziner

ArmInfo.The U.S. must strongly condemn Azerbaijan and make it clear that its actions are 

unacceptable, U.S. Congress member Seth Magaziner said in an interview with the Voice of America Armenian service. He led a group of about 90 U.S. Congress members that addressed a letter to U.S. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen calling for sanctions against Baku for military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh. 

Azerbaijan had no reasons for military operations in 

Nagorno-Karabakh, which followed an unacceptable blockade of the 

region for many months. He called for suspending al aid to Azerbaijan 

to force it into returning to the negotiating table to find a 

peaceful solution that would ensure the protection of Armenians in 

the region. 

A group of Congressmen had contacts with the U.S. Administration a 

few months before the hostilities as they were concerned over the 

blockade that had lasted for months and its humanitarian 

consequences. The U.S. Administration, concerned over the fact, was 

surprised by the Azerbaijani attack. Mr Magaziner believes that the 

U.S. Administration will from now on take on a harder line as 

Azerbaijan has shown it is not committed to a peaceful settlement and 

must be forced into finding a peaceful solution. 

Mr Magaziner stressed that the recent developments are a failure of 

Russian peacekeepers as well. that was one of the instances of 

alleged concurrence of American and Russian interests in ensuring 

regional peace.  The Russian peacekeepers has been stationed there 

for a long period, but they failed to prevent Azerbaijan's attack 

against the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, which is a deplorable fact, 

the U.S.  Congressman said.  

Mr Magaziner believes that Moscow's accusations against Yerevan are 

aimed at diverting the attention from the Russia's failures. He said 

he does not know about any actions by Armenia that would provoke the 

military actions. The Armenian side was concerned over humanitarian 

issues, whereas Azerbaijan resorted to military force. 

Mr Magaziner calls on the U.S. and its partners to assume a leading 

role in establishing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. His office 

maintains contacts with the U.S. Department of State and USAID urging 

them to increase humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh 

Armenians.