On 12 September, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Yuri Borisov commented about the possibility for Azerbaijan to get status of observer or partner of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Russian-led equivalent to NATO.

“The CSTO will always welcome cooperation with all the former republics of the USSR. Once we were all one family,” he said. “We have a lot in common. This also applies to a certain balance, let's say, of the military forces of all the former republics. We are pursuing a very balanced and thoughtful policy regarding military-technical cooperation with all CSTO countries and Azerbaijan, in particular,” Borisov noted. Borisov added that Russia is not interested in provoking the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan’s potential partner status, but wants to help to bring the conflict to an end.

Following Borisov’s statement, CSTO Secretary Valery Semerikov also commented on the possibility. “Let us derive from the normative-legal field adopted by the CSTO. All the decisions, and particularly those relating to membership, gaining status of observer, partner, are being adopted by consensus. If one of the member states is against the decision, it will not be adopted. Each state may express wish to become observer or partner but there are certain restrictions registered in the normative documents,” Semerikov stated, applying that Armenia’s approval would be a necessary prerequisite for this to happen.

The Armenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also gave its opinion in this regard. “Countries seeking to have status of observer at the organization must have diplomatic relations with all the member states of the CSTO. We have followed all the comments and positions but we must clearly register that there is a charter, there are clearly fixed provisions,” said the spokesperson of the Armenian MFA Anna Naghdalyan, adding that in the CSTO the decisions are being made on the basis of consensus. “Without Armenia’s consent any comment, any position will remain just a position,” Naghdalyan stressed. Asked whether the statement does not contradict strategic relations between Armenia and Russia, Naghdalyan said that there are clear standards which should be met.

The debate on Azerbaijan’s potential partner status started in August 2018, when Ali Huseynli, the Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliamentary Committee on Legal Issues and State building and the head of the inter-parliamentary group of friendship between Azerbaijan and Russia came forward with the initiative to join the organization. Huseynli argued that Azerbaijan’s ascension into the CSTO would bring economic benefits such as preferential prices for the purchase of arms of the member countries of this organisation, as well as training of military specialists in the leading specialised educational institutions of the CSTO partners. He also added that the membership would positively affect the resolution Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 

The decision to designate the status for observer or partner nations was adopted by the heads of state at a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in November 2018. CSTO countries are now undergoing the appropriate procedures to ratify the document. On 4 July 2019, Semerikov explained what are the differences between an “observer” and “partner” status in the organization. A CSTO partner is a state or an international organization that shares the goals and principles of the CSTO, wishes to establish and develop relations of mutually beneficial cooperation in the areas of common interest and undertakes commitments to participate in practical activities of the CSTO. An observer is a state or an international organization interested in studying an open-access regulatory framework, experience and practices of the CSTO activities without undertaking commitments to participate in practical activities of the organization.

Semerikov also added that there is a list of requirements that partners and observers must comply with. In particular, all candidates must be UN members and should not have conflicts on their territories. The member states of the CSTO are: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan, while Afghanistan and Serbia have an observer status in the organization.