Azerbaijan Has Officially Submitted its Application to Join BRICS

A move that seems quite natural given the growing ties between Moscow and Baku, as well as Azerbaijan's increasing collaboration with non-Western countries. This year alone, the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan have held several meetings: during Ilham Aliyev's visit to Russia in April, at the SCO summit in early July, and most recently during Vladimir Putin's state visit to Azerbaijan just a few days ago. During his visit to Baku, Vladimir Putin invited Ilham Aliyev to attend the next BRICS summit, which will be held in Kazan from October 22 to 24. It is possible that Azerbaijan's application will be considered at the summit. China has already expressed its support for Baku's intentions in a joint declaration on strategic partnership with Azerbaijan. Therefore, there is a reasonable chance that Azerbaijan's application will be approved, although it is still too early to say for certain. This is because Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had previously announced that BRICS members have temporarily suspended the admission of new members.er all these circumstances, Azerbaijan's intention to join BRICS shows that, unlike the Armenian leadership, which is interested in integrating the republic into the Western political space, the Azerbaijani authorities see Russia and BRICS as partners ready to build equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Azerbaijan's accession could bring political and economic benefits to both Baku and the organization. Azerbaijan could enhance its foreign policy standing, while BRICS would gain a new member that could help strengthen the organization's economic potential.

It is also worth mentioning the potential benefits for Russia and BRICS countries from Azerbaijan's accession, particularly related to the implementation of the "North-South" project. This international transport corridor connects Russia with Iran and India, with the western branch passing through Azerbaijan. Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev have repeatedly discussed strengthening cooperation in this project during their regular meetings and expressed intentions to develop the transport corridor's infrastructure.

Considering Azerbaijan's accession to BRICS in the context of energy, it is essential to point out the promising opportunities for implementing new energy projects within BRICS. Resource-rich Azerbaijan could also support the formation of a unified BRICS energy system and a BRICS oil and gas market. Moreover, the application to BRICS clearly demonstrates Azerbaijan's intentions to increase energy cooperation with "non-Western countries," primarily aiming to enter new large export markets, particularly China and India, which has become the world's leader in LNG imports.

However, there is a risk of difficulties in Azerbaijan's accession to BRICS due to its past political disagreements with Iran. Azerbaijan's pro-Turkish stance and its potential competitiveness in BRICS energy markets could lead to a nuanced position from Iran's new leadership regarding its application.

Azerbaijan's possible accession to BRICS may be related not so much to the energy ambitions of the participant countries to expand the fuel potential of their geopolitical field, but rather to Turkish President Recep Erdogan's desire to ensure a ubiquitous presence on the world stage. Azerbaijan is still in the Turkish sphere of influence, which in the future will enact its interests on a new scale through the lens of Ilham Aliyev's representation in BRICS. In the context of Azerbaijan's potential participation in BRICS, it is impossible not to consider the Armenian matter in this issue and the dynamics of Russian-Armenian relations in their phase of permanent transformation, which began in the 2020s. Based on recent developments, Armenia is increasingly drifting towards Western countries due to Pashinyan's course of Westernization. Thus, the Armenian leadership has already announced the creation of a company to build a nuclear power plant in the republic, with both Russian and American options on the table.

However, the Armenian authorities are increasingly aligning themselves with the Western project of building a modular power plant, which increasingly fuels America’s attempt to corner Armenia and force it out of the Russian sphere of influence.

That way, the US is trying to cause a breakdown in Pashinyan's relations with Putin through various means, not only in through economy and energy. Whether the US will be able to fulfil the ambitions of including Armenia in its proxy forces in the South Caucasus amid Azerbaijan's accession to BRICS is a matter of new realities of international disengagement and unclear prospects for U.S.-Armenia relations.

But under all these circumstances, Azerbaijan's intention to join BRICS shows that, unlike the Armenian leadership, which is interested in integrating the republic into the Western political space, the Azerbaijani authorities see Russia and BRICS as partners ready to build equal and mutually beneficial cooperation.