The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Anna Naghdalyan, despite having slammed the Azerbaijani foreign minister for leaking the information about a meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington, did not dismiss the fact of the meeting. The Azerbaijani minister announced that the U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo had suggested holding the next meeting in Washington.

The Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan told the Figaro that there can be only a political settlement, and the only format is the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. In her turn, Anna Naghdalyan stated there are no negotiations on any program.

The purpose of Pompeo’s invitation could be related to maintaining the balance and preventing Moscow from monopolizing the settlement of the conflict. On the other hand, the United States is currently making conceptual statements relating to the settlement of conflict.

Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to the White House, Trum’s son-in-law, has stated about Donald Trump’s peace plan in the Near East and said it requires compromise by both sides. According to Kushner, the plan will be presented when the coalition government is formed in Israel, and the holy month for Muslims Ramadan ends.

It is known that the proposal includes two main components, a political part relating to such issues as the status of Jerusalem, and an economic part, which is supposed to help the Palestinians to strengthen their economy. It is not clear yet whether the state of Palestine will be recognized, which is the main demand of the Palestinian side.

The United States is looking for universal schemes of settlement of conflicts and is offering its options. For example, the option of “double sovereignty” is proposed for the cases of Kosovo and Crimea. This option may also be proposed for the settlement of other conflicts.

However, this is a strategic prospect, and the United States may propose to Armenia and Azerbaijan in a strategic regime to strengthen the ceasefire by way of introduction of means of investigation of incidents, which was discussed in Washington back in January 2016.

https://www.lragir.am/en/2019/04/22/71675