Russia, Iran mull ratification of Convention on legal status of Caspian Sea

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Moscow and Tehran, in their contacts, are actively getting back to discussing the issue of ratifying the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday at a government hour at the Federation Council, Report informs citing TASS.

“The Caspian Summit was held in Astrakhan when Russia’s turn came. This summit took place in the Astrakhan Kremlin. It turned out to be productive – it laid the foundation for completing the work on the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which four countries had already ratified. Only Iran remained, they asked for a pause because they had an election campaign, and now we are returning to this topic,” the minister said.

He explained that, according to the document, the five Caspian states assume full responsibility for what is happening in this area, and the presence of the armed forces of foreign states is not allowed in the Caspian Sea. “This is a very timely decision, given the appetites that some of our Western colleagues have for the entire post-Soviet space and especially concerning the Caspian Sea,” Lavrov added.