Azerbaijan: authoritative BRICS membership application

A spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Ministry of abroad Affairs Aykhan Hajizad reported last Tuesday that Azerbaijan had made an authoritative application for membership of BRICS. This message came just a day after the gathering of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Azerbaijan president Ilham Aliyev in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku, on 18-19 August. Does this mean a contractual change of alliances in the region?