No weapons of mass destruction or related delivery systems were located on the territory of Azerbaijan--a nation with a Turkic and majority-Muslim population--when it regained its independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. In spite of a long-standing conflict with neighboring Christian Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, Azerbaijan has not sought to develop WMD capabilities and is a signatory of a number of international accords, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC).
на русском (in Russian)
There are no known nuclear reactors, research facilities, or uranium mines on the territory of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan does possess a low-level radioactive waste storage facility, Izotop Industrial Complex, and several former Soviet military sites allegedly contaminated with radioactive substances during the Soviet era. See Radioactive Waste in Azerbaijan for more information. Azerbaijan is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has an Additional Protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
 See Azerbaijan Nuclear Profile
There is no evidence to suggest that Baku possesses or is pursuing biological weapons capabilities. Under a June 2005 Nunn-Lugar biological threat reduction agreement between Azerbaijan and the United States, Baku and Washington will work together to improve security and safety at the Azerbaijan central pathogen health laboratory and at the Republican Anti-Plague Station in Baku. In September 2005, 124 samples of 62 unique strains of causative agents of plague, anthrax, cholera, and other dangerous diseases were transported from Baku to the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, DC, where the strains will be studied jointly by U.S. Department of Defense and Azerbaijan medical researchers. The strains had been collected over many years from environmental, human, and animal sources in Azerbaijan and will be used to identify pathogens in possible future outbreaks. Azerbaijan acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in February 2004.
Azerbaijan is a founding member of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention. There is no evidence to suggest that Baku is pursuing a chemical weapons capability.
The Russian Daryal type Radar Station in Gabala, also known as Lyaki, continues to operate as an early warning system to detect missiles launched towards the former USSR from the south. The site does not officially have the status of a Russian military facility, but continues to be operated by Russian military personnel.
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Updated December 2007 |
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