WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Thursday spoke at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh with Yuri Kim, Acting Assistant Secretary European and Eurasian Affairs. Murphy raised his concerns with Azerbaijan’s ongoing blockade and discussed its relationship with Russia.

Murphy questioned whether the U.S. and Europe have made the right choice to invest in Azerbaijani oil and gas as the country grows closer to Russia: [W]e have been hard at work along with our European colleagues over the course of the last decade, trying to help Europe slowly wean itself off of dependence on Russian gas and oil and part of that strategy has been to deliver more Azerbaijani gas and oil to Europe. We think that that's a more responsible choice. I think we now have to question whether or not that premise stands.”

“And it is interesting that Russia is making these new overtures to Azerbaijan because it sees that their energy products are going to matter more to Europe and to the extent that Russia and Azerbaijan can link up on national security policy, then the leverage that Russia is losing it perhaps could gain back,” Murphy continued.

“[T]he question now becomes are we funding Azerbaijan's efforts to impose a brutal blockade on the Armenian people? And so, again, I think it underscores the importance of the ultimate goal, which is to break the United States and Europe free of dependence on oil and gas, period stop. Because there seem to be no great choices in in the region,” said Murphy.

Murphy concluded: “[W]e are seeing a remarkable amount of coordination between countries that are part of that system of multiple supports. Most recently, the Saudis and the Russians essentially colluding to keep the price high enough in order to continue to fund the war. So this strategy of being dependent on a system and series of dictatorships again may not necessarily bear the strategic gain that we think it does.”

A full transcript of Murphy’s exchange with Yuri Kim, Acting Assistant Secretary European and Eurasian Affairs:

MURPHY: “Mr. Chairman, thanks for convening this hearing. Thank you for your testimony today. Let me first just associate myself with the remarks of the Chairman and Senator Cardin and others. This is obviously a crisis, one that requires active U.S. leadership. I understand the difficult question regarding the pressure points on Azerbaijan, but at this point, I think you have to put all possible tools on the table because gentle diplomacy does not seem to be working.

“I guess I want to ask you a question about the state of the Russia-Azerbaijan relationship. Because we have been hard at work along with our European colleagues over the course of the last decade, trying to help Europe slowly wean itself off of dependence on Russian gas and oil and part of that strategy has been to deliver more Azerbaijani gas and oil to Europe. We think that that's a more responsible choice.

“I think we now have to question whether or not that premise stands. And it is interesting that Russia is making these new overtures to Azerbaijan because it sees that their energy products are going to matter more to Europe and to the extent that Russia and Azerbaijan can link up on national security policy, then the leverage that Russia is losing it perhaps could gain back.

“And so what are the implications for the U.S. and for Europe as Azerbaijan and Russia draw closer? What's the nature of that relationship? And did we perhaps make the wrong bet by moving more Azerbaijani resources into Europe? Could we come back and could Europe come back to ultimately regret that decision?”

KIM: “Thank you for that question. The relationship between Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, everybody else in the region with Russia is dictated by geography and history. And it's not just the history of a few years in the Soviet years, it's generations and centuries here. We are working hard to rebalance that in our favor.

“What we also notice is that this agreement that Armenia and Azerbaijan reached in November of 2020. We're not a party to it, and that agreement calls for the Russians to provide peacekeepers to enforce the terms of that agreement. I think it's fair to say that the Russians haven't delivered. And that's part of the reason why you're seeing the Armenians beginning to question that relationship.

“On the broader issue of energy, that's an urgent need. All of the countries in Europe and around the world, I would say, have concluded that it is not a good idea to be sole source to Russia for their energy needs. We have had an effective period of work with the Azerbaijanis in helping them to double the amount of gas that they will be bringing to Europe by the year 2027, from about 10 to about 20 BCM.

“That southern gas corridor is extremely important for ensuring that there is energy diversity for Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, potentially Albania and definitely Italy and possibly into the Western Balkans. So we cannot underestimate how important that is. There's also the oil pipeline that runs from Baku [to] Tbilisi to Ceyhan. And we need that to keep functioning. The main task here is to enable our friends, partners, allies to break free of the stranglehold that Russian energy has had on them over the last few generations.”

MURPHY: “Right, but our alternative is turning from dependence on one dictatorship to a different dictatorship. And the question now becomes are we funding Azerbaijan's efforts to impose a brutal blockade on the Armenian people? And so, again, I think it underscores the importance of the ultimate goal, which is to break the United States and Europe free of dependence on oil and gas, period stop. Because there seem to be no great choices in in the region. I do appreciate the leadership that Secretary Blinken has shown here, I think it is important that we're playing a central role here. And I'm glad to have this update, we hope to stay in close touch.”

KIM: “Senator, I'd like to just foot stomp one point that you made about energy diversity source routes and that means that we don't want our friends, allies, and partners to be single source to any country or to any type or any route. That's not in their interest. We want we want our friends, allies and partners to have multiple ways to get energy so that nobody can hold them hostage based on energy needs, right.”

MURPHY: “Right, but we are seeing a remarkable amount of coordination between countries that are part of that system of multiple supports. Most recently, the Saudis and the Russians essentially colluding to keep the price high enough in order to continue to fund the war. So this strategy of being dependent on a system and series of dictatorships again may not necessarily bear the strategic gain that we think it does.”

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