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The United States will continue to engage with the Armenian and Azerbaijani leadership at the highest levels to pursue a dignified and durable peace, U.S. Department of State deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday.

“You’ve also seen us, over the course of this past week and beyond, reiterate our call for a longer-term, independent, international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh to provide transparency and reassurances that the rights and securities of ethnic Armenians will be protected, particularly for those who may wish to return, and for the protection of cultural heritage sites, which all of course is in line with Azerbaijan’s public statements and their international obligations as well,” he told a press briefing.

Patel said that Russian presence in Nagorno-Karabakh “continues to be concerning”. “But the United States is going to continue to remain focused on engaging with Azerbaijani and Armenian leadership on this, and doing whatever we can to continue to have a dignified and durable peace on this,” the spokesman added.

Referring to the latest visit of a UN mission to Nagorno-Karabakh and the UN spokesperson’s claims that the UN team did not see any damage to civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and housing, or to cultural and religious sites, he said: "So we certainly appreciate that – those comments from the UN spokesperson. But that does not change the United States’ point of view on this. As I just said to Alex, we continue to believe, even in the light of the UN visit, that there is a strong desire and a need for a longer-term, independent international monitoring mission in Nagorno-Karabakh. We think that that will provide transparency; we think that it will provide the appropriate reassurances for the various rights and securities that we continue to be deeply concerned about."