Caspian littoral states launch armament drive

All five countries that have direct access to the Caspian Sea are starting to build up their military presence in the area. The dispute about legal status and borders of the Caspian Sea is going on for 20 years already. Representatives of Caspian littoral states recently met in Moscow to discuss the distribution of the sea's vast resources. All of them expressed their aspiration for peace and partnership, however these words appear to have no real value. Russian Fleet Admiral Vladimir Viscosity declared that Russia will add another 16 war ships to its 148-ship Caspian flotilla by 2020. The flotilla already has the most powerful frigate in the world, the 'Tatarstan'. The first new ships will enter the flotilla this year. Admiral also said that special missile tracking equipment will be installed on the shore. These claims are most recent steps towards militarization of Caspian littoral zone, one that is considered to be a lakebed by some, and a seabed by others.

Lake or sea?

Whether the Caspian Sea is actually a sea or a lake matters not only for geography books: since the collapse of the USSR five Caspian littoral states - Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan - can't agree on the borders of their respective territories in this body of water. According to international law, lakes situated on borders of two or more states have different legal status than seas. The law gives different level of control over the natural resources and territories to the countries in question depending on the status of the body of water. Oil resources of the Caspian Sea are estimated to be worth some 3 billion dollars, but their distribution between the five countries depends directly on the decision whether Caspian Sea is a sea or a lake. Recent 29th session of the 'Caspian working group' in Moscow demonstrated that the five countries are as fare from consensus on the matter as they were 10 years ago.

Caspian littoral states

Iran has the second largest fleet in the Caspian Sea after Russia. It counts 90 warships. Earlier this year, official Tehran stated that another 75 missile carrier vessels will be added to this number. The head of Iranian military fleet said that Iran is ready to protect its interests in the Caspian Sea and has firm control over 20% of the sea. Iran's position in the dispute over the legal status of the Caspian Sea is the following: it suggests that each littoral state should have equal share of the sea's territory. Kazakhstan is also trying to boost its military presence in the area by deploying a new air base in the port city of Aktau. It is rumored that Kazakhstan plans on purchasing ships from South Korea and trains new marine personnel in Turkey. Azerbaijan also resorts to Turkish and US help on the matter of strengthening its Caspian fleet. After the disintegration of the USSR Azerbaijan was left with only 8-vessel fleet, but now it obtained 30 more from Turkey and 3 - from the USA that also help Baku deploy anti-missile radar systems in the area. Turkmenistan's military presence in the Caspian Sea is minimal for now, but it's also using its friendly relations with Turkey to boost its fleet: 2 patrol vessels are being constructed in Turkey for Turkmenistan. The President also declared that the first Marine Academy is to be opened in Turkmenistan.

Russia's influence

Nevertheless, Russia undoubtedly has the leading position among the littoral states. According to Alexei Vlasov, VK's chief editor and expert on the Caspian Sea problem, Russia is increasing its military presence to influence the other countries so that they would finally come to an agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. Russia is in a hurry as it is concerned by the growing influence of Western powers over the Caspian matters. This influence is exercised not only via direct military aide to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Western oil companies, such as 'Chevron' and BP, already have control over considerable share of Caspian oil resources. Up until now Russia was a monopolist in oil transportation via pipelines in all Caspian region, but now EU has reached certain progress in weakening this monopoly. In addition, there exists a rivalry between Iran and Russia in Caspian matters, despite the fact that both countries deny it and emphasize their 'strategic partnership' relations. The stakes are high: experts say Caspian seabed and offshore holds from 2 to 6% of global oil reserves and from 6 to 9% of world's natural gas reserves. According to military expert Vladimir Evseev the main reason for main reason for Russia increasing its military presence in the Caspian Sea is the growing numbers of Iranian war fleet.  US military expert Steven Blank disagrees stating that Russia wants to be able to impose its will on all littoral countries and decrease US influence over Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. However, according to the expert, this line of behavior might lead to a directly opposite result.

Progress

Nevertheless, there are some positive changes: Russian President submitted an agreement on Caspian security to RF Parliament. This agreement obliges all Caspian littoral states to work towards cooperation in the matters of maritime security and fight against terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking and so on. All five presidents signed the document last November. The leaders are also obliged to reconvene for yet another meeting in Moscow. It is obvious that during this future meeting there will be a lot of talk of peace and cooperation, but whether the five countries are able to implement these fair principles on practice or not remains to be seen.

By radio 'Azattyk'