 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Updated September 2008
Introduction
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 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). Azerbaijan has cooperated with United States on
WMD nonproliferation and defense activities and signed a corresponding agreement
on 28 September 1999.
на русском (in Russian)
 |
|
||||||||||||
Nuclear
There are no known nuclear reactors, research facilities, or uranium mines on the territory of Azerbaijan. However, there is a large quantity of radioactive waste stored at the Izotop Industrial Complex and in other locations. Azerbaijan is a signatory to the Minsk Accord, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
See Azerbaijan Nuclear Profile
Biological
There is no evidence to suggest that Baku possesses or is pursuing biological weapons capabilities. On 6 June 2005, the U.S. Department of Defense and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed an Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Area of Prevention of Proliferation of Technology, Pathogens and Expertise that could be Used in the Development of Biological Weapons. Under this agreement, Baku and Washington 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. At present, under the Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), the U.S. DOD through its contractor Raytheon Technical Services Company continued to renovate training space and enhance site security at the Anti-Plague Station and renovate the interim diagnostic laboratory at the Republican Veterinary Laboratory in Baku.[1] Azerbaijan acceded to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention in February 2004.
[1] Cooperative
Threat Reduction Annual Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2008 Cooperative Threat
Reduction Annual Report to Congress Fiscal Year 2008 Information Cutoff Date:
December 31, 2006,
<http://www.dtra.mil/documents/oe/ctr/FY08%20CTR%20
Annual%20Report%20to%20Congress.pdf>.
Chemical
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.
Missile
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.
This
material is produced independently for NTI by the James Martin Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and
does not necessarily reflect the opinions of and has not been independently
verified by NTI or its directors, officers, employees, agents. Copyright © 2008
by MIIS.
