Russia says it held talks with US, EU on Nagorno-Karabakh before crisis

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia exchanged views with the United States and the European Union on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh ahead of the lightning military operation by Azerbaijan last month, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Politico reported earlier that top officials from the United States and the EU met their Russian counterparts in Turkey for emergency talks about Karabakh just days before Azerbaijan launched its operation in the breakaway region.

"The U.S. and EU approached us and asked us to hold a meeting," Zakharova told reporters. She said the sides exchanged views on the situation in Karabakh.

"There was nothing secret about this meeting; it was an ordinary exchange of views. We shall see how the West will present all this now."

U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters the meeting was not a secret and "came together to address specifically urgent humanitarian issues and the provision of potential humanitarian aid in Nagorno-Karabakh."

"The U.S. remains deeply engaged on the situation and we continue to be committed to helping the parties achieve a lasting peace in the South Caucasus," he said.

(Reporting by Filipp Lebedev; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Paul Simao)