At the briefing on January 4, Ned Price, the Spokesman of the US State Department, said that Ambassador Philip Reeker, who was appointed as the State Department's Senior Adviser on the Caucasus Negotiations in 2022, retired from the diplomatic service.

It should be noted that Reeker worked in various positions, including the US Embassy in Great Britain, for more than 30 years. From March 2019 to August 2021, he held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs.

Earlier in 2022, Caucasus Watch reported that after the appointment of Reeker to the region, Leyla Abdullayeva, the Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan, 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.