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Russian president's special envoy: Russia opposes division of Caspian Sea into national sectors

22 September 2014 14:19 (UTC +04:00)

Moscow. Farid Akberov – APA. “It has failed to reach an agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea for 18 years,” said Russian president's special envoy on the delimitation and demarcation of borders between Russia and the CIS states, ambassador-at-large of Russian Foreign Minister Igor Bratchikov at the briefing in Moscow, APA’s Moscow correspondent reports.

Bratchikov said that solution of the Caspian problem is one of the priorities of Russian foreign policy. He also revealed the issues to be discussed at the upcoming Caspian summit in Astrakhan on September 29.

“The summit will focus on the security of the Caspian Sea Region, preservation of its biological resources, legislative, economic and humanitarian aspects. A number of intergovernmental agreements on hydrometeorology and environmental protection will be signed. The convention is not limited to the division of the Caspian Sea. There are complex problems, military and others. If an agreement is reached on all of these issues, a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea will be signed”, he said.

Bratchikov emphasized a number of issues regarding delimitation of the Caspian Sea will be agreed on: "Russia has already defined its borders with Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran need to agree on this issue”.

The ambassador said that one of the disagreements on the legal status of the Caspian Sea was related to the position of Iran: “Iran’s proposal to each state regarding the division of the Caspian seabed and water surface on the principle of 20 percent is the main reason for disagreement”.

Bratchikov considers that the heads of state will achieve progress in determination of the legal status of the Caspian Sea in Astrakhan.

“I am sure that a major step will be taken to reach a final agreement on the open aspects of the convention in Astrakhan”, the presidential envoy added.

The diplomat said that the Russian side from the very beginning, in principle, opposed the division of the Caspian Sea. But then Moscow has agreed to build the Caspian so-called national zones, covering an area of about 25 miles from the coast.