US House Speaker Pelosi visits Armenia days after border clashes with Azerbaijan

Europe, News, US September 17, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi arrived in Armenia on September 17, 2022, for a three-day official visit.

The U.S. House Speaker will meet Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan, and other senior Armenian officials during her visit to the country.

Pelosi is leading a congressional delegation, which includes Chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Frank Pallone, Representatives Anna Eshoo, and Jackie Speier.

Pelosi was greeted by the Head of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan as she landed at the International Airport outside of Yerevan, Armenia. Being third in line to become the U.S. president, Pelosi is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Armenia since the small impoverished country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Upon her arrival in Yerevan, Pelosi said that her visit is a “powerful symbol of the United States firm commitment to a peaceful, prosperous and democratic Armenia, and a stable and secure Caucasus region.” She further added that her three-day visit would “play a big role in ensuring our security.”

Pelosi’s snap visit to Armenia comes at a time when a threat of a full-scale conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia has become more imminent after the two sides exchanged border scuffles last week. Fighting between the border forces of the two countries has resulted in the death of more than 100 soldiers from both sides.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars, in 2020 and the 1990s, over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. Last time it was in November 2020 that the two sides fought in and around Nagorno-Karabakh. The six-week-long conflict resulted in the death of more than 6,500 people on both sides.

The U.S., along with Russia and France, co-chairs the mediation talks between Baku and Yerevan at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group.

“We will convey the strong and ongoing support of the United States, as an OSCE Minsk Chair and longtime friend to Armenia, for a lasting settlement to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh,” Pelosi said in a statement upon her arrival in the Armenian capital.

^{U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi with Head of Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan at the International Airport outside of Yerevan, Armenia, on September 17, 2022. (Image Credit: Twitter/@usembarmenia)}

Many analysts believe that the recent fight between the Armenian and Azerbaijani has undone all the peace efforts to bring the two countries close for peace talks and brought the situation back to square one.

Pelosi also made another high-profile visit to the self-governed island of Taiwan back in August this year. Her controversial trip received a strong reaction from Beijing as China announced several sanctions on her and her immediate family members, suspended cooperation deals with the U.S. on several issues, and conducted a large-scale military drill around Taiwan.