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Turkmenistan drags its anchor on key
accord
By Sergei Blagov
MOSCOW - Although the environmental safety of
the inland Caspian Sea has created few disputes,
nonetheless a meeting between the five littoral states
has failed to achieve consensus on this issue, with
unexpected disagreements on marine environment
protection coming as an ominous sign for overall Caspian
settlement.
Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and
Azerbaijan signed a convention to protect the marine
environment of the Caspian, following talks in Tehran
November 3-4. However, the fifth littoral state,
Turkmenistan, was conspicuously absent on the list of
signatories.
The convention is an important step
towards signing an overall agreement on the legal status
of the Caspian, Ivan Glumov, Russia's deputy minister of
natural resources and the head of the Russian
delegation, was quoted by the Russian Information Agency
as saying.
The Turkmen delegation attended the
talks, but did not sign the convention, reportedly
because President Saparmurad Niyazov did not grant his
permission. Turkmenistan could join the convention
within a year, said Glumov, conceding that without
Turkmenistan, the convention could not come into force.
Authoritarian Turkmenistan, which proclaims
neutrality, has proved a difficult partner in
decade-long negotiations over the Caspian Sea. So far,
Turkmenistan has declined to take part in any bilateral
deals on the Caspian.
Seeking a larger share of
the Caspian Sea, Turkmenistan and Iran have disagreed
with Russia's plan for splitting the Caspian seabed
along a "modified median line" while keeping the waters
in common.
Russian officials believe that in the
absence of an overall agreement, bilateral agreements on
the Caspian are needed now to protect the sea's
bio-resources. Russian officials have long urged the
reaching of an agreement over joint measures for the
preservation and use of its bio-resources without
waiting for a final deal over the sea's status.
However, the littoral states' inability to
clinch a deal on environment raises serious questions
over the prospects of an overall Caspian settlement.
The Caspian is famous for its sturgeon and black
caviar. The most pressing environmental problem of the
sea is its sturgeon population, representing some
two-thirds of the world's reserves. The official
sturgeon and caviar catch is plummeting, while poaching
is estimated at five to 10 times the official catch. The
tapping of offshore oil and gas reserves also threatens
the Caspian's sturgeon, as well as its other
bio-resources.
Glumov has previously stated that
Russia planned to boost environmental monitoring in the
northern Caspian. Officials from Russia and other
littoral states have argued that the Caspian is being
polluted mainly by in-flowing river waters, notably the
Volga, Kura and Ural rivers, and not by oil rigs.
The Caspian Sea region is widely viewed as
important because of its large oil and gas reserves.
However, uncertainty over the status of the Caspian has
held back oil development in the resource-rich water
body, although an US$8 billion international consortium
is already in production off the shores of Azerbaijan.
In the wake of the flawed Caspian Sea summit in
April 2002, it has become obvious that the status of the
sea is unlikely to be determined any time soon. Any deal
requires consensus between all five littoral states.
Following the failed Caspian summit, Russian
President Vladimir Putin stated that Moscow would push
for a series of bilateral deals, instead of an overall
agreement between all five littoral states. Last year,
Kazakhstan agreed and clinched a separate deal with
Russia, in May, while Azerbaijan eventually followed
suit by signing a similar agreement.
Meanwhile,
Russian media outlets speculated that the situation
around the Caspian Sea could eventually deteriorate.
There have been signs of an arms race in the Caspian,
Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily commented earlier
this month. Russia has no intention of abandoning its
forceful policy since its naval forces are stronger than
all other littoral states combined, the daily wrote.
In August 2002, the Russian Caspian Flotilla
held naval maneuvers in which 60 vessels, some 10,000
servicemen and 30 aircraft took part. Following the
division of the Soviet Caspian Flotilla in 1992 between
Moscow and Azerbaijan, Russia kept three quarters of the
naval vessels and personnel. The withdrawal of the
flotilla from its former base in Baku, the capital of
Azerbaijan, forced Russia to build a new base in
Astrakhan.
The Caspian Flotilla is Russia's sole
naval force that has recently seen its strength grow. In
the past five years, Russia has reportedly doubled its
Caspian naval force, which now includes two frigates, 12
major patrol vessels and about 50 smaller vessels based
in Astrakhan, as well as some 20,000 personnel.
The Kazakh navy is based in the Aktau and
Atyrtau ports in the eastern and northern parts of the
Caspian, respectively. Kazakh naval forces include some
3,000 personnel, and armed with 10 imported coast guard
boats and five smaller vessels, as well as three Mil
helicopters.
Officially, Turkmenistan used to
have no naval forces. However, Turkmenistan reportedly
enlisted some 2,000 naval personnel and procured 20
patrol boats from Ukraine.
Unlike Turkmenistan,
Azerbaijan owns naval facilities in Baku as well as a
quarter of the former Soviet Caspian Flotilla. Its naval
forces include some 2,500 personnel.
Tehran was
prohibited to have naval forces in the Caspian Sea,
according to treaties between czarist Russia and Persia
as well as the USSR and Iran. However, in the wake of
the Soviet collapse, Iran has been reported to mull
turning its Caspian ports into naval bases for dozens of
its smaller and auxiliary vessels.
Russian
officials have criticized moves towards changing the
military balance in the Caspian Sea. On the other hand,
Moscow remains keen to keep its naval supremacy there
unchallenged.
During the past decade,
disagreements over the division of the Caspian's
hydrocarbon riches and other valuable resources have
proved sufficient to prevent the littoral states from
finding common ground, and the latest setback over the
environmental accord does not indicate any cause for
optimism that the situation will change for an overall
Caspian Sea solution to be hammered out.
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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