In a briefing on the evening of October 4, State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel stated that Washington confirmed that US, Russian, and EU representatives met in Istanbul before the recent military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. He said the United States "regularly communicates with stakeholders in the region.

The US official provided some details of the meeting, saying it was held in Istanbul to address specific urgent humanitarian concerns and provide humanitarian assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh. "This is what the meeting was dedicated to," he emphasized.

As for who was the initiator of the diplomatic communication between the US, Russian Federation, and the EU on the Karabakh topic, Patel noted that he does not want to specify more than what he has already said. According to him, the US continues to actively engage and support the sides in achieving a stable peace in the South Caucasus.

Asked whether Washington was disappointed that the dominoes started falling two days after the meeting, Patel said, "Overall, this is a situation that continues to be of deep concern to us. We are certainly concerned about the situation following the recent hostilities that have resulted in over 100,000 Armenians fleeing from the Nagorno-Karabakh region into Armenia, and we are closely monitoring the situation on the ground. Of course, we are, as before, concerned and continue to pay attention to the humanitarian consequences. That is one of the reasons for this meeting."

Notably, Politico, recently, citing sources, reported that diplomats from the Russian Federation, the United States, and the EU, two days before the start of the Azerbaijani military operation in the region, held a meeting in Turkey to discuss resolving the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh.