Providing assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh discussed at US Congress hearings (video)
Voice of America The issue of providing assistance to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh was discussed during the hearings at the US Congress. Head of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in a speech to the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee, who was present at the hearings on of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the US Congress, addressed to Bred Sherman the following: "You are aware that Armenia, which is blockaded by Turkey and Azerbaijan, deserves our assistance. You are aware that Nagorno-Karabakh, now the Republic of Artsakh, is in the vicinity of the belligerent power, and that the southern region of the Republic of Georgia called Samtskhe-Javakhetia is a region deserving to receive a considerable part of our assistance. I am sure that many of my colleagues have sent letters on that occasion. " Thirty-three United States Congressmen have appealed to their counterparts to bring USD 60 million to Armenia. The Congressmen specifically urge Armenia to provide USD 30 million in economic, USD 10 million military assistance and USD 20 million to Armenian refugees in the Middle East. The letter also urged to stop any aid to Azerbaijan and provide USD 10 million in assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh for mine clearing and installing equipment for registering ceasefire violations. Touching upon other former Soviet republics during the hearings, Congressman Thed Poe, President of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, emphasized the importance of US assistance, especially to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. "Will they take the direction of the Russian bear, or to the West?" According to the Congressman, the development of real democracy and the elimination of corruption in those countries were not only humanitarian, but also a major political issue for the United States.
