Russia is interested in close cooperation with Azerbaijan in various regional formats — within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), as well as in the framework of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA), the Caspian Five, the 3+3 regional cooperation platform, and in the context of building the Eurasian security architecture, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Maria Zakharova told a press briefing Wednesday.

“We [i.e. Russia] see the strengthening of dialogue with Baku and the Eurasian Economic Union, as evidenced by the already established tradition in which the prime minister of Azerbaijan participates in the meetings of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council as an honorary guest. (…). We positively assess our cooperation with Baku within the CIS. Our [Azerbaijani] partners are very active in various domains of sectoral cooperation. For example, this year Azerbaijan is hosting all three thematic capitals of the CIS. Qabala is becoming the youth capital, Lachin — the cultural capital, and Ganja — the sports capital. During this period, from September 28 to October 8, the Third CIS Games were successfully held in seven Azerbaijani cities, with the participation of more than 1,500 athletes [competing] in 23 sports. (…),” noted Zakharova.

“And of course, we welcome Baku’s joining a number of final documents of the Dushanbe summit held on October 10. Among them are statements by the heads of state on cooperation in combating international crime and on the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Also, Azerbaijan has supported the adoption of the 2026-2028 program for cooperation in combating terrorism and extremism, which is an important mid-term document concerning certain domains of joint work among CIS countries. It is being done to ensure regional security,” added the Russian MFA spokesperson.