Caspian Sea’s Division Principle Defined by States Bordering It

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister has confirmed that the principle of the Caspian Sea’s division has been defined, without clarifying the details, however.

The principle of the Caspian Sea’s division has been defined by states bordering it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said.

On December 5, following the ministerial meeting of the Caspian five countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the work on the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea had been virtually completed, and its draft was expected to be subject to approval of the leaders of the Caspian Sea states in Kazakhstan in the first half of 2018.

"Yes, but I'd rather not go into details," Karasin told the Kommersant newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday, when asked whether the principle of the Caspian Sea’s division had been agreed upon.
He also did not rule out the possibility of a future preparatory meeting of foreign ministers or working groups to ensure that some details of the issue were clarified.

The issue of defining the legal status of the Caspian Sea arose after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the emergence of new independent states made it necessary to set out the boundaries among five countries — Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.

The states have been discussing the legal status of the Caspian Sea for over 20 years. The main difficulty in determining the status of the Caspian Sea is linked to its recognition as a lake or a sea, the division of which is regulated by different provisions of the international law.