AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
Baku, Azerbaijan: Azerbaijan proposed the demilitarization of the Caspian Sea during an 18th round of talks on settling the sea's status on Thursday, but was countered by a Russian proposal to set up a joint naval operations group.
“Azerbaijan proposes starting discussions on the demilitarization of the Caspian,” Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov said after a meeting of officials from the five Caspian states: Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.
A Russian negotiator, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the sea could not be left undefended.
“The Caspian states can not be left without arms in the face of new threats such as international terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” the Russian official told journalists.
“Russia suggests setting up a joint naval operations group on the Caspian.”
The status of the oil-rich Caspian has been left unresolved since the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse, periodically raising tensions.
The United States has encouraged both Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to beef up their sea defences in order to counter “transnational threats,” particularly to valuable oil installations.
Washington has spent some 30 million dollars on upgrading Azerbaijan's coastguard with a radar system, personnel training and repair of ships and recently said it wanted to spend 135 million dollars to improve Azerbaijan's and Kazakhstan's sea forces.
In the absence of a five-way agreement, the northern three countries, Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan, have thrashed out their own agreement dividing up the northern and central part of the sea.
