The United States has openly voiced a plan for Armenia: Squeeze out Russia in two years
Washington should intervene more actively in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and try to completely push Russia out of the region.
Bill Keating, a member of the US Democratic Party, stated this during Senate hearings in Washington, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
"While Armenia and Azerbaijan must return to the negotiating table, Russia and other external forces seeking to influence them must be removed . It is vital that the US and Europe lead these negotiations to ensure that our democratic values are represented."
While the countries of the Alliance are united in support of Ukraine, the peoples of these regions have no better opportunity to reap the economic benefits of a peace agreement,” Keating said.
In turn, US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien said that Washington considers it necessary to push Russian peacekeepers out of Armenia, since with their help Moscow is allegedly circumventing the economic sanctions imposed against the Russian Federation.
"Just to focus on Armenia—the government itself has undertaken several very interesting reforms that allow it to monitor trade with Russia . This way, they can see which companies are involved in this trade. And then we can take measures to stop this trade."
As a result of the 2020 ceasefire, Russian troops effectively control two key crossings from Armenia to Russia . One is at the airport, and the other crosses the Azerbaijani border on land.
Thus, the government has no control over the goods passing through these checkpoints. This simply makes it even more urgent that we find a more stable way to govern Armenia and force the Russian peacekeepers to leave when their term expires in a year and a half.
We can only do this if we are deeply involved in implementing the peace agreement. If we remain on the sidelines, Russia will continue to control the border ," O'Brien urged.
The US has openly announced its plan for Armenia: To push out Russia in two years.