Caspian neither Sea nor Lake, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russian Federation

Moscow / 09.08.18 / Turan: According to the convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, which is expected to be signed on August 12 at the leaders' summit in Aktau, the reservoir will not be recognized either as a lake or as a sea, said Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant.

"The Caspian Sea will have a special legal status. This is explained by a set of specific geographic, hydrological and other characteristics. It is an inland water body that does not have a direct connection with the world's oceans, and therefore it cannot be considered as a sea," Karasin said.

"But at the same time, due to its size, water composition and bottom features, the Caspian cannot be considered a lake either. In this regard, the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Sea Law of ​​1982 and the principles applied to trans-boundary lakes are not applicable to the Caspian Sea: only its seabed is delineated in sectors, while sovereignty over the water column is established on the basis of other principles," Karasin said. .

"If in all previous years we have worked out only nine legally binding five-sided documents, in Aktau - in addition to a large interstate agreement - six new intergovernmental agreements are expected to be signed at once. We expect that after the adoption of the convention, the Caspian format will noticeably grow stronger. It's time to form a permanent consulting area," he said. -02D-