I would like to hope that one day, and as soon as possible, there will be times when a third will become unnecessary in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), stated this at Wednesday’s press briefing.

This is how she commented on a reporter's question regarding the statement by Hikmet Hajiyev, assistant to the president of Azerbaijan, according to which the best solution for Armenia would be neutrality, not military alliances that threaten Azerbaijan's security, and added that “Armenia should develop militarily responsibly and proportionately.”

In this regard, the aforesaid reporter expressed a view that the aforementioned representative of Azerbaijan also meant Armenia's membership in the CSTO.

In response, Zakharova stated that she “did not see a single quote from the Azerbaijani official stating that the CSTO threatens the security of the mentioned state [i.e. Azerbaijan].”

The Russian MFA spox added that "in general, the CSTO is not a military alliance."

"The CSTO is an organization that unites countries concerned about their security. And neither in the statutory documents nor in the history of the activity is there anything confirming or indicating that this structure is directed against someone. There are very clear challenges, there are clear tasks, goals with which this structure works," Zakharova emphasized, in particular.

“As for military development, it is the task of each sovereign state. The main thing is that it does not disturb the regional balance of forces and is not directed against each other," Russian MFA spox concluded.