Azerbaijan-Armenia: U.S. Says Suspended Demining Operations In Areas Affected By Conflict, Hopes To Restore Through Peace

Azerbaijani military operations in Nagorno-Karabakh last year caused the United States to suspend some of its demining operations in areas affected by the conflict, and Washington hopes that the peace process will lead to continue those efforts in the future, TURAN's U.S. correspondent reports.

"We do have a two million dollar earmark from Congress to provide assistance to areas affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict... When Azerbaijan did its military action in the summer of 2023, then those activities in Azerbaijan had to be suspended in the Nagorno-Karabakh region," State Department official Karen Chandler, director of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement at the Political-Military Affairs Bureau, told a briefing in Washington in response to TURAN's questions.

She went on to add, "At this moment we are hoping that both sides will come to the table and that we will be able to continue that in the future.. But right now those activities have been suspended in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone."

Chandler was briefing the reporters on Thursday at the State Department's Washington Foreign Press Center on the release of the annual “To Walk the Earth in Safety” Report.

According to the report, last year the State Department was provided $2.28 million for humanitarian demining operations in areas affected by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. With funding from the Pentagon, the U.S. has also provided support for conventional weapons destruction in Azerbaijan. "Due to administrative issues, no events were executed, but training travel funds were provided," reads the report.

The authors go on to state, "explosive hazards across the conflict-affected area continue to kill and maim civilians, block economic development, and impede the safe return of displaced families. Since the November 9, 2020 trilateral arrangement, more than 360 people have been killed or injured in landmine accidents in the region."

State Department's FY23 funding built on the $2.5 million previously provided and further strengthened the technical capacity of demining organizations to clear explosive hazards in line with international standards, according to the report.

Speaking about Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine, Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, said Russian invasion has intentionally littered massive swaths of Ukraine with landmines, unexploded ordnance, and improvised explosive devices, which block access to farmland, impede recovery efforts, prevent displaced families from returning to their homes, and continue to kill and maim innocent Ukrainian civilians.

As of September 2023, Ukraine estimated that 174,000 square kilometers of its territory may have explosive hazards—this is an area larger than the state of Illinois.
There are at least 25,000 square kilometers of agricultural land that have been contaminated, and as Jenkins mentioned, that affects 81 million people globally in terms of the global food supply.

Asked by TURAN whether the issue of accountability for Russian actions should be a part of discussion when addressing Ukraine's demining, Chandler said, "we absolutely do hold Russia responsible for the contamination completely in Ukraine."

"There are just enormously disruptive statistics about what level of contamination the country has. The Ukrainian government is saying that approximately one-third of the country is contaminated," she said.

She concluded: "Russia is responsible for that contamination because of its unjust, unprovoked, and illegal invasion of Ukraine. So absolutely in terms of accountability, we 100 percent hold Russia responsible."