BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Azerbaijan formally applied Tuesday to join the BRICS bloc of developing countries, a day after Russian leader Vladimir Putin visits oil-rich country in South Caucasus to strengthen regional ties and secure Moscow’s beleaguered trade routes.
The announcement by the Foreign Ministry in Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, comes as the BRICS alliance has undergone a major expansion. For more than a decade, the bloc consisted of just five countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates joined in January, and Saudi Arabia has indicated it is considering joining the EU as well.
The club already includes some of the world’s largest oil producers and accounts for more than a quarter of global GDP. Members Russia and Iran have stretched their relations with the West to the breaking point over Moscow’s war against Ukraine and Iran’s regional policies.
Business relations were high on the agenda during the meeting between Putin and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on MondayAliyev announced that $120 million had been set aside to boost cargo transportation between the two countries.
According to political scientist Zardusht Alizade, Putin is increasingly dependent on countries like Azerbaijan to access the global market due to sanctions imposed on Moscow over its actions in Ukraine.
According to Alizade, it is important for Azerbaijan to maintain Moscow’s goodwill for national security, given the tensions with neighboring Armenia.
Russia has been a longtime sponsor and ally of Armenia since the fall of the Soviet Union. But relations between the two have been increasingly strained since September 2023, when Azerbaijan’s military seized control of the Karabakh region, ending three decades of ethnic Armenian separatist rule.
Armenia accused Russian peacekeepers sent to the region of failing to stop Azerbaijan’s attack. Moscow, which has a military base in Armenia, argued that its troops had no mandate to intervene.
