U.S. Accuses Azerbaijan State-Run Media of ‘Pure Disinformation’
The United States said that a “military document” prominently featured by Azerbaijan’s state-run Azertac agency is “pure disinformation.”
Azertac published a document of a purported military agreement reached between Armenia, the U.S. and the European Union when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on April 5.
Azertac and later other Azerbaijani media claimed that the alleged document outlined providing military assistance to Armenia by the EU and the U.S.
“This document is pure disinformation,” the State Department said Thursday in response to a request for comment by Azertac.
“Security issues were not on the agenda. We would direct you to the joint press release we put out along with the EU and Armenia following the April 5 trilateral meeting in Brussels,” the State Department added.
“The Brussels meeting with the EU and Armenia focused solely on Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs, and support for Armenia’s ongoing reforms, including in areas such as democracy and rule of law,” the State Department statement explained.
Armenia’s foreign ministry on Thursday called the purported document featured in Azerbaijani press as “fake.”
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan said Thursday that there was no “hidden agenda” at the Brussels meeting.
“The meeting held in Brussels was focused on the resilience of Armenia and the diversification of its economy. Too much has been unnecessarily voiced around this topic, and it does not correspond to reality,” she said.
“The complete agenda of the topics discussed in Brussels is set out in the joint press release distributed following the meeting. Any statement made outside the agenda of the press release is false. There was no hidden agenda at the Brussels meeting. The Brussels process has been completely transparent and will remain so,” Badalyan added.
The EU’s foreign affairs spokesperson Peter Stano also dismissed the Azerbaijani media publications, telling Armenia’s Public Television that “the implications made in relation to an alleged document published by some Azeri media are absolutely wrong and inadequate.”
“I can only reinforce what our U.S. and Armenian partners said already on the topic: The trilateral EU-US-Armenia meeting in Brussels on April 5 was about our bilateral cooperation with Armenia with the focus on economic issues. Security was not on the agenda of that meeting. The only official outcome of the meeting is the joint press statement of the participants published afterwards,” Stano said.
