On May 24, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held a conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, offering assistance in efforts to delimit and demarcate the border, and called for progress in developing regional transport and communications links. Blinken reaffirmed Washington's support for ne***iations between the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia mediated by the European Union.
It is known that the United States relies on its own interests, taking into account the aspirations of the conflicting parties to a lesser extent. In the fall of 2020, at the height of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, the White House acted as an intermediary between Baku and Yerevan. Donald Trump sought to win the votes of the large Armenian diaspora in the swing states. The parties agreed on a ceasefire and almost immediately violated it.
After the aggravation of Russian-American relations, the South Caucasus gained strategic importance in US foreign policy. The American authorities have stepped up the policy of ousting Russia from the post-Soviet space, primarily from the South Caucasus, since the proximity of this region to the North Caucasus makes it of key importance in the vital interests of the Russian Federation.
At present, the United States claims to implement such a scenario, in which Russian peacekeepers will leave Nagorno-Karabakh in the short term, because Russia's military presence in the conflict zone strengthens its position in the region. However, both Azerbaijan and Armenia agree that the dominant role in the conflict settlement is the role of Moscow. As for Washington's economic interests in the region, they have already dwindled even before the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last year, which caused a political, humanitarian and economic ripple effect throughout the region, where stability turned out to be rather short-lived.
The lack of regional stability negatively affects the investment attractiveness of the region. Cooperation between Baku and Washington in the energy sector remains an important factor. The South Caucasus has proven to be a critically difficult battlefield for a Biden administration seeking to restore US global leadership and broken diplomatic ties around the world.