Is the US demanding that the Karabakh people go to a meeting with representatives of Baku?

Baku/15.06.23/Turan: According to a diplomatic source in Washington, the United States is reportedly pressuring representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh to agree to a meeting with Azerbaijani officials in a third country. This ultimatum is said to include the participation of an American mediator. If the Karabakh leadership refuses the meeting, they are allegedly threatened with a counter-terrorist operation by Azerbaijan. The Russian state agency RIA Novosti reported these claims.

The source also mentioned that Sergey Gazaryan, the head of Karabakh's "Foreign Ministry" who is currently based in Yerevan, is promoting the American "peacekeeping initiative" and following the instructions of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

This American initiative has been met with strong disapproval from Moscow, which sees it as an attempt by the West to exclude Russia from the negotiation process.

As of now, there has been no official response from Yerevan or Baku regarding this report.

It is worth noting that the Azerbaijani authorities have extended two invitations to representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh to engage in peace talks for the reintegration of the Armenian population. However, the separatist representatives have repeatedly stated that they do not consider themselves part of Azerbaijan.