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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned what she described as “Azerbaijan’s recent attacks on Armenia” during an address in the Armenian capital Yerevan on September 18.

Pelosi said her visit was planned before deadly border clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan earlier in the week that killed as many as 155 soldiers, on both sides, according to media.

“Make no mistake, this assault is unacceptable and escalatory, and threatens the prospects for the much-needed peace agreement process to succeed,” Pelosi said, adding that “the situation” was a priority for US President Joe Biden and the US Congress.

She also said Armenia was central to a global “debate between democracy and autocracy with its proximity to Russia.”

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs hit back at the US Speaker, describing her remarks as “groundless and unfair”.

“This is a serious blow to efforts to normalize relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” the ministry said in a statement. “Such unilateral steps and groundless statements serve not to strengthen the fragile peace in the region, but, rather to escalate tension.”

Earlier in the day, Pelosi paid tribute to victims of the Armenian Genocide at a memorial in Yerevan. Credit: Nancy Pelosi via Storyful