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US top politician Nancy Pelosi and Armenian parliament leader Alen Simonyan
Photo: HANDOUT/AFP
A few days after Azerbaijan's attack on Armenia, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, condemned the attack during a visit to the Armenian capital.
She spoke of an illegal and deadly attack in Yerevan on Sunday.
"America stands by Armenia and supports its security and democracy," said the US Democrat.
According to Yerevan officials, 135 Armenian soldiers were killed in the attack.
Azerbaijan has reported more than 70 deaths in its own ranks.
The oil and gas-rich South Caucasus republic of Azerbaijan attacked Armenia on Tuesday night.
Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of previously provoking.
The militarily weak country rejects this.
After two days of heavy fighting, a ceasefire has been in effect since Thursday.
The ex-Soviet republics have been at war with each other over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for decades.
This time, according to information from Yerevan, it was not the conflict region that was attacked, but the heartland.
Head of parliament calls for sanctions from the West
Armenian parliament leader Alen Simonyan said at a press conference with Pelosi that Azerbaijan had used international attention to the war in Ukraine to "brutally bomb" the country.
He called for Western sanctions against Azerbaijan, which is an important energy supplier for the EU, in order to end the country's expansionist drive.
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Pelosi, 82, said the "territorial integrity of Armenia" was important to the US.
"The aim of our visit is to understand what Armenia expects from the USA and what support we can provide." Traditionally, Russia has been Armenia's protecting power.
However, there is increasing criticism in Yerevan that Moscow is overwhelmed by the war in Ukraine.
Pelosi's statements met with sharp criticism in Azerbaijan.
"Pelosi's unfounded and unfair allegations against Azerbaijan are unacceptable," the Defense Ministry in Baku said in a statement.
"This is a serious blow to efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan," the ministry said, calling Pelosi's choice of words "Armenian propaganda."
A clear assignment of blame
Such clear blame in the conflict goes well beyond what the US State Department has publicly proclaimed.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concern about the military escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan and called for an end to the fighting.
Under international law, the Nagorno-Karabakh region belongs to Azerbaijan, from which it broke away in 1991.
The conflict escalated into a war in 2020, which ended after six weeks with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
Both sides blame each other for the renewed fighting.
kek/dpa/Reuters