RUSSIAN NATIONAL INTERESTS AND THE CASPIAN SEA

The Caspian Sea, located on Iran's northern border, surrounded by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan, and sharing a border with the south-west corner of Russian territory, is the epicentre of a collision of regional, national and business issues. These include questions among the littoral countries over demarcating the Sea, route diversification for oil pipelines, state interests, investor concern over political and ethnic stability, and the role of international agreements.

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1 Andrey Grozin, Karina Gevorgyan, 'Caspian Global Solitaire and Russian Interests: 'Black Gold' of Caspian Region Divided Up without any Rules, According to Principle of 'Whoever is Brave Takes it All,'' Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Sodruzhestvo NG Supplement), 5 May 1998, pp. 12-13 as translated and down-loaded from the FBIS web page.
2 Tyler Marshall, 'Caspian Sea: Oil in a Tinderbox', Kansas City Star, 8 March 1998, p. K-6.
3 E-mail conversation with Dmitri Trenin, Moscow Carnegie Center, 16 June 1999.
4 Sanobar Shermativa, 'Undercurrent: Is the Caspian Threatened with Militarization?', Moscow News, 19-26 April 1998, No. 15, p. 12 as translated by FBIS and down-loaded to their web page.
5 Shamsutdin Mamayev and Petr Ivanov, 'God Tags the Shelves: a Team of International Financial Speculators has Joined the Great Game over Caspian Oil', Kommersant-Vlast, 10 February 1998, No. 4, pp. 37-41, as translated in FBIS-SOV-98-054, 23 February 1998.
6 Richard C. Longworth, 'Boomtown Baku', Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, May-June 1998, p. 37.
7 'International Perspectives: the Russian Factor', Politics and Decision-Making, Caspian Investor, Volume III, pp. 55-56.
8 Ole Maksimenko, and Vitaliy Naumkin, 'New Oil Policy Will Inevitably Lead to Geopolitical Changes', Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Sodruzhestvo NG Supplement), 25 November 1998, No. 10, pp.
9-10 as translated by FBIS and down-loaded from their web site.
9 'International ...' op. cit., pp 59-60.
10 Ibid.
11 Asya Gadzhiyeva and Mikhail Gerasimov, 'Azerbaijani Ships Are Locked in the Caspian', Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 15 April 1998, p. 5.
12 'International ...' op. cit., p. 60.
14 Ibid.
15 Mikhail Klasson and Arif Useinov, 'Baku-Novorossiisk Oil Pipeline Will Have to be Closed', Vremya, 17 June 1999, as reported in Current Digest, Vol. 51, No. 24, 1999, p. 16.
16 Grozin, op. cit.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Trade in Caviar, 'Sturgeons of the Caspian Sea and the International Trade in Caviar', down-loaded from the Internet at site wwf-uk.org/vanishing/sturgeon/page4.htm
20 Introduction, 'Sturgeons of the Caspian Sea and the International Trade in Caviar', down-loaded from the Internet at site wwf-uk.org/vanishing/sturgeon/page4.htm
21 Valeriy Kornov, 'Lost Generation of Caspian Sturgeon', Izvestiya (electronic version), 27 October 1998, p. 2.
22 Robert King, 'Russian Caviar Mafia', down-loaded from Johnson's List on 10 September 1998.
23 E-mail discussion with Dmitri Trenin, Moscow Carnegie Center, 16 June 1999.
24 'International ...' op. cit., pp. 56-57.
25 Ibid., pp. 57-59.
26 Ibid., pp. 55, 56, 61.
27 Jamestown Monitor (electronic version), 19 January 1999.
28 Grozin, op. cit.
29 Ibid