Acting CSTO Secretary General Valery Semerikov commented on the topical issue in Armenia over the organization’s cooperation with Azerbaijan.

Asked to comment about the possibility of granting any status to Azerbaijan, Semerikov noted that he is an administrative official of the organization. 

“All statements or requests to become an observer, partner, or member must be received in the established manner by the CSTO secretariat. I have no statements from Azerbaijan. The issue was not considered,” he said. “There are rules of procedure. There are provisions that have been approved by the heads of state. There are requirements for partners and observers, and they must be strictly observed. Only after this can the issue of membership or partnership or observation be considered.”

To the remark that minutes earlier Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov did not rule out a similar possibility, Semerikov noted: “Let's proceed from the regulatory framework. All decisions, especially concerning membership, partnership, observation, and other issues are made strictly by consensus, consent. If there is no consent of the states, the decision will not be made. There is a charter, and you probably have repeatedly seen that even when the Secretary-General was appointed - how long the epic lasted - it was not adopted until we reached a consensus, until all the heads of state signed the decision.”