"The doors of the CSTO must be open to all, including Azerbaijan," says Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko, in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, assessed the prospects for the expansion of the CSTO.

In his remarks, the diplomat stated that "the doors of the CSTO must be open to all, including Azerbaijan." He added, "The only thing that can limit a country's accession is certain provisions of the organization's charter, according to which diplomatic relations must exist between member states for CSTO membership. Such relations do not yet exist between Armenia and Azerbaijan. When they are established, we are confident that this will happen sooner or later, then this issue can be placed in a practical context in one way or another," concluded Rudenko.