BAKU, October 3. /TASS/. Russia welcomes and supports Azerbaijan's intensified interaction with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and BRICS, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin told journalists in Baku.

"Russia certainly welcomes and supports Azerbaijan's obtaining observer status in the SCO and the country's closer interaction with the BRICS group of states. These organizations, as you know, are already very authoritative, respected in the world and the leadership of Azerbaijan knows this very well," Naryshkin said.

He noted that closer interaction with BRICS and the SCO will be beneficial for Azerbaijan.

"The acquisition of this new status and closer interaction with these two international organizations will bring Azerbaijan both economic and political dividends. And our two countries will have an additional platform for interaction in a new format," Naryshkin said.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service reported that Naryshkin had paid an official visit to Baku on October 2-3. There he met with the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and also held talks with the leadership of the Foreign Intelligence Service and the State Security Service of the country, the organization's press bureau said.

Russia assumed the one-year rotating chairmanship of the BRICS intergovernmental group on January 1, 2024. It will last until the end of the year and includes over 200 events covering a wide range of issues. The key event of Russia’s chairmanship will be the BRICS summit on October 22-24 in Kazan, Tatarstan, in Russia’s Volga region.