By Mane Berikyan
Senior Biden Administration officials, including U.S. Agency for International Development chief Samantha Power, arrived in Armenia for a historic visit on Monday. This marks the first-ever visit by a USAID chief to Armenia.
Power will reportedly meet with top Armenian officials to “discuss measures to address the humanitarian crisis” in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Read more: With ethnic cleansing underway, Armenians begin leaving Karabakh
The other senior U.S. official visiting Armenia alongside Power is Acting Assistant Secretary of State Yuri Kim. In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this month, Kim had said that the United States would not tolerate any attempts to “ethnically cleanse” Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.
As of Monday morning, approximately 5,000 forcibly displaced persons arrived in Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh, with tens of thousands more expected in the coming days.
Following a nine-month blockade that left 120,000 civilians in Nagorno-Karabakh on the brink of famine, Azerbaijani forces began shelling the region’s civilian population and the entire line of contact. They advanced far enough into the region to force surrender. The attacks left at least 200 dead, 400 injured and thousands more displaced.
According to the U.S. embassy in Armenia, Power will also “affirm U.S. support for Armenia’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity, and democracy” during her visit.
Last September, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to visit Armenia following Azerbaijan’s deadly attacks against Armenia proper.
Read more: Pelosi condemns Azerbaijan’s ‘illegal and deadly attacks’ on Armenia visit
