No. 11 – July 2013
Author: Alessandro Lundini
Language: Italiano
Keywords:
Caspian Sea
Geopolitics of energy
Irano-Russian relations
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Abstract
For centuries the Caspian Sea was an exclusive affair between Russia and Persia. In the last two decades, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the birth of three new countries (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan) the political context has notably changed. The Sea has become the centre of different interests and disputes due to the definition of the legal status in order to define national sectors for each states and the necessity of the coastal countries to exploit the enormous amount of resources (especially oil and gas) in the sea bottom.
The aim of this report is to describe the geopolitical situation of the Caspian area, starting from the historical legal framework realized by Russia and Persia, analyzing the positions of the five coastal country from ‘90s till to nowadays and also the other major controversies between them. It is noted that the main cause of disputes is related to the possession of the rich oil and gas deposits off-shore and to the diverse projects for the westward exportation of these resources. Today there are only a few bilateral agreement between the coastal states because they have been unable to come to a general treaty, but the lack of cooperation and the growing arms race risk to hamper the economic development and the peace in the area.
