Vedant Patel, Principal Deputy Spokesperson at US Department of State, referred to the issue of political prisoners during a press briefing. Journalists reminded him that Secretary Anthony Blinken spoke with Azerbaijani president lham Aliyev, and last week Assistant Secretary James O’Brien spent his days in Baku. They asked is there any concern that these high-level engagements keep happening without securing the release of political prisoners?
“This is a long process and it requires us to have continued engagement, and it’s something that I would expect both the Secretary and Assistant Secretary O’Brien and others to be – continue to be focused on”, Patel said in response.
He also touched upon the topic of inviting Georgian officials to NATO summit in Washington D.C.
“It is a country we continue to have a range of issues that we want to prioritize in the context of that bilateral relationship with them. When it has come to this specific legislation, we have and how we believe it is counter to Georgia’s own EU aspirations. We still believe it’s important to engage, and there continue to be other issues that we have no doubt we’ll talk about with them”, Patel said.