Philip T. Reeker, US Secretary of State's Adviser on Caucasus Negotiations, said that the Minsk Group of the OSCE is no longer active and that Washington deals with the arrangement between Azerbaijan and Armenia only with direct relations with Baku and Yerevan. 

Reeker added: "I think the situation has reached such a point that we can end this mandate [Minsk group mandate] by consensus." Reeker stated, "The mandate itself is useful. However, the Minsk Group co-chairs process is no longer working. And we are directly participating in their peace process together with the parties."

Philip Reeker said at the hearing held in the US Senate on November 16: "Minsk Group no longer operates in the form it was known before. The mandate remains. The purpose of the mandate remains, of course. OSCE acts based on consensus. I, my French colleague, am in very close contact with the European Union, which is currently deeply interfering in the region with other parties, the same OSCE. But Azerbaijan said it will not work with the Minsk Group."

As previously reported by Caucasus Watch, while commenting on the press statement of State Secretary Blinken dated August 24, Leyla Abdullayeva, the Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, said that it is surprising that the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken's press statement on the appointment of Philip T. Reeker to the position of senior adviser on the Caucasus negotiations shows an approach far from the post-conflict reality in the region. Abdullayeva said that Azerbaijan's position regarding the Minsk Group had been repeatedly and clearly expressed at the highest level. "Attempts to resuscitate the virtually non-functioning Minsk Group may result in the USA moving away from the normalization process of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations," she added. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman stated: "The Karabakh conflict has been resolved, and the Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan. The international community, including our partners, should understand that connecting the talks on the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia with the Karabakh issue does not serve normalization at all."

On August 25, Caucasus Watch reported that in the traditional briefing at the State Department, Vedant Patel, the First Deputy Press Secretary of the State Department, commented on the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan regarding the appointment of Philip Reeker as co-chairman of the Minsk Group. Vedant Patel said that the Secretary of State appointed Ambassador Reeker as the Chief Adviser on negotiations in the Caucasus to emphasize the United States' commitment to promoting peace in the South Caucasus. "We are committed to direct dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia in a bilateral, multilateral manner and within the framework of cooperation with like-minded partners to achieve a comprehensive peace settlement between the two countries. His selection underscores our commitment to the Geneva International Discussions, where we will continue to hold ourselves accountable to our commitments under the 2008 ceasefire with Russia. As part of his role as a diplomatic advisor, Ambassador Reeker will represent the United States both in the OSCE Minsk Group and, as I mentioned, in the Geneva International Discussions," he noted.