Territory of stability

The news of fundamental importance should not drown in the news flow: the State Duma has ratified the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which was introduced by President Vladimir Putin. The Convention unites the countries of the Caspian region: Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, establishes for them clear rules for the use of the sea, mineral resources and establishes shipping rules. Key point: the Caspian is declared free territory from the armed forces of other countries that are not included in this five. The abscesses of the military bases of distant states will not appear here.

“The document confirms the peaceful use of the sea, establishes the regime of shipping and the collective use of the water area, and also establishes the basic principle of joint activities in the Caspian Sea - the expansion of mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas,” commented State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. He also noted that all interested countries "showed consistency in their decisions, the desire for an equal dialogue and the equitable use of the region’s resources." Justice as the main principle of global politics - how long have we heard about this?

The explanatory note to the document states that “the activities of the parties to the convention will be carried out, among other things, on the basis of the principles of peaceful use of the Caspian Sea, turning it into a zone of peace, good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, resolving all issues related to the Caspian Sea, peaceful means , as well as ensuring security and stability in the Caspian region. " In other words, the Caspian is a territory of friendship and an example of good neighborliness.

Good intentions and general words of a slogan sense - something like this may be objected to by professional as well as amateur skeptics. Do not tell. The situation is generally unique. The most important issue, the concept of which was being prepared for two decades, was solved without the intervention of third countries. World gendarmes, democracy envoys and other observers and outsiders who strive to spread the net of their interests around the world, while behaving according to the tactics of an elephant in a china shop: to arrange the maximum of problems - and let them decide for themselves, they themselves will have time to carry chestnuts from the fire . As a result, the topic did without a destabilizing factor, and the States also declared the Caspian a zone of their interests. Why's that?

At present, this is a unique case in general: a group of countries gathered together without advisers, without obligations imposed from outside, and resolved the most important regional territorial issue. Apparently, one should soon expect that they will start shouting that Russia thus isolates itself from the best and most enlightened countries of world democracy. Sometimes it’s better to keep these countries and their gushing interests aside so that they don’t get things done ...

As a result, the Caspian Sea under this convention, in fact, became the rear for the Caspian states - a territory of stability, clear rules and, most importantly, trusting relations. In simple words: no one will throw you here and will not play diplomatic thimbles to bind you with obligations, but to completely untie your hands and interpret any agreements in the way you need. The sought-after multipolar world - so here it is. Another powerful center of power, predictability and stability on the world stage.

It is not necessary to go far for the opposite examples - Azov. The Ukrainian authorities methodically and steadily exacerbated the situation there, arranging all kinds of provocations. At first, a Russian fishing vessel was captured, then a tanker, the crews were arrested. The Ukrainian side conducted military exercises to repel "Russian aggression", it was stated about the need to create a military base there. All this plunged and burst when a breakthrough of Ukrainian boats was organized near the Kerch Strait.

The initiators, apparently, wanted more, such as blood, but everything was limited to an endless stream of news headlines that Russia fired and captured Ukrainian boats.

Then came the long and painful sufferings of the best people on the best side of the planet about the grave suffering of Ukrainian sailors in Russian dungeons. After decisive action by the Russian border guards, the fervor cooled - and for a while the entertainers of provocations subsided. That’s the whole difference: provocations create a territory of constant irritation and instability. It would be possible to crank up something similar in the Caspian - do not hesitate, would do in two ways.

The Caspian is an important strategic region for Russia, where everything will be decided in terms of mutually beneficial agreements, common interests, and not from a position of strength. This is the concept of convention. Now we can say that the example of resolving territorial disputes comes from the Caspian. Of course, the convention is not a panacea or a philosopher's stone with miraculous and universal properties for solving all problems and issues, but a basic document with which you can verify details. Remaining and discussion points in the dialogue between the countries of the "five". So, there are questions to the construction of the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline with the help of European companies. Russia and Iran are opposed, pushing for environmental threats. But all these questions are not from the category of unsolvable ones; their pedaling is designed to storm the sea of ​​political calm, cause strife, so that against the backdrop of storms and scandals, they wedge outside the circle of the "five" countries.

The convention did not fall from heaven. Once again, we have been preparing it for 20 years through comprehension and understanding of the new geopolitical realities, because earlier in this region there were only two players - the USSR and Iran. All these years, the processes of rapprochement of countries have been going on, despite the fact that they were constantly trying to pull them apart from different angles.

At the time of the adoption of the convention, it was said that a common market for the participating countries was being formed. From the latter: in August, in Turkmenistan, at a meeting of the Ministers of Economics of the Caspian Five countries, they discussed a multiple increase in trade turnover. At the same time, it was announced that Russia would send 200 billion to its projects on the Caspian and Volga, an excellent growth driver for the Russian Caspian territories.

It should be once again reminded that Russia, among other things, is a unique geographical unit. Russia is a space, territory, in this development lies its national idea, about which we must not forget. And the establishment of territorial order, especially on the principles laid down in the convention, is a fundamental thing. It gives a signal both for an internal territorial inventory, for a clear understanding of the place and tasks of each region in a common work, and for external interaction with neighbors. Do you want constant trash and frenzy, as in Ukraine with its unpredictability of a modern walk-field, or cooperation on the Caspian example?

Pay attention to another synchronicity: on Thursday, Volodin puts the ratification of the convention on the State Duma’s agenda, and President Vladimir Putin travels to Orenburg for the Center-2019 military exercises, in which the Caspian Five countries also take part. A kind of signal for those very third countries, the armed forces of which the Caspian is closed, and yet I really wanted to launch my metastasis there too ...

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.