The leaders of the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea signed a landmark convention on Sunday regarding the legal status of the body of water.

Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed the deal in the small seaside city of Aktau, Kazakhstan.

The inland sea has been a bone of contention among the five countries since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The agreement is expected to ease regional tensions, and could accelerate the development of lucrative oil and gas projects.

The Caspian Sea is estimated to hold some 48 billion barrels of oil and 292 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who pushed for an agreement, said the deal had "epoch-making significance" and called for more military cooperation among the countries bordering the Caspian.

Read more: Azerbaijan's economic miracle hits a snag

More talks ahead

But some observers remain skeptical as to whether the countries managed to put their disagreements to rest.

"This document is hardly a breakthrough, as some of the controversial issues remain unresolved," Arkadij Dubnow, a Russia-based expert on Central Asia, told DW. "But the current geopolitical circumstances have forced the parties to compromise," he added.

"The deal is nothing but a framework that somehow defines the rules of the game, but there is no agreement on the game itself."

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One issue among the participants was whether the body of water is a sea or a lake — each of which is subject to different international laws.

The convention refers to the Caspian as a sea but Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told the daily newspaper Kommersant that provisions in the treaty give it "a special legal status."

The convention keeps most of the sea in shared use but nonetheless divides up the seabed and underground resources, according to the Kremlin.

But Dubnow said an agreement on the division of the seabed "will, in my view, take years, not months."

Iran ended up with the smallest share of the sea in accordance with the terms of the deal, and may end up a potential loser in the agreement.

That would explain why Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the deal "a major document" on Sunday but stressed that it doesn't solve all of the disagreements surrounding the sea.

"Today we have a framework for actions in the Caspian Sea which was not the case before," Rouhani said in comments translated into English. "But there are other issues to deal with in other meetings."

Still, Rouhani hailed a stipulation in the convention that prevents non-Caspian countries from deploying military forces on the sea.

"The Caspian Sea," he said, "only belongs to the Caspian states."

Read more: Caspian Sea oil platform fire

'Beneficial to Russia'

For Iran, stopping US presence in the region is of primary concern, say observers.

"That's why Tehran has, at least formally, given up its insistence on either splitting the sea into five equal parts or jointly developing all of its resources," Dubnow underlined.

"Banning foreign military presence in the Caspian Sea is at the heart of this agreement," Amir Taheri, an Iranian political analyst, told DW. "The fact that Iran agreed to this deal shows Tehran's current weak geopolitical position," the expert added.

He pointed out that US sanctions against Iran, coupled with Tehran's need for Moscow's support on the global arena, ensured that the Iranian government lacked much room for maneuver during the negotiations.

"The deal has prompted a lot of criticism in Iran," said the analyst.

Experts say the agreement allows Russia to strengthen its relations with the Caspian Sea states and prevent the US from establishing any military presence in the region.

"The agreement is extremely beneficial to Russia. It makes Moscow the de facto naval power in the Caspian Sea by granting Russian warships the right to operate unhindered throughout the waterway," Russian expert Dubnow said.

bik,sri/ng,wr (Reuters, AFP)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal on its legal status on Sunday in the Kazakh city of Aktau, easing regional tensions and potentially facilitating lucrative oil and gas projects.

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed the agreement on the status of the inland sea, which has been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union rendered obsolete agreements between Tehran and Moscow.

The host, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said before the signing that the leaders were "participants in a historic event."

"We can admit that consensus on the status of the sea was hard to reach and not immediate, the talks lasted more than 20 years and called for a lot of joint efforts from the parties," Nazarbayev said.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose country was seen as driving the deal, said the convention had "epoch-making significance" and called for more military cooperation between the countries on the Caspian.

Sunday's summit was the fifth of its kind since 2002 but there have been more than 50 lower-level meetings since the Soviet breakup spawned four new countries on the shores of the Caspian.

The deal goes some way to settling a long-lasting dispute on whether the Caspian is a sea or a lake -- which means it falls under different international laws.

While the convention refers to the Caspian as a sea, provisions in the agreement give it "a special legal status", Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin told Kommersant daily earlier this week.

The Kremlin has said the convention keeps most of the sea in shared use but divides up the seabed and underground resources.

Iran, who ended up with the smallest share of the sea under the terms of the convention, is viewed as a potential loser in the deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the convention "a major document" Sunday but noted that it does not bring an end to all disagreements over the sea.

"Today we have a framework for actions in the Caspian Sea which was not the case before," Rouhani said in comments translated into English.

"But there are other issues to deal with in other meetings."

Nevertheless, Rouhani hailed a stipulation in the convention that prevents non-Caspian countries from deploying military forces on the sea.

"The Caspian Sea only belongs to the Caspian states," he said.</s>It is a landmark deal that has been more than two decades in the making.

Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan – all bordering the Caspian Sea – have agreed in principle on how to divide it up.

Their leaders signed the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea in the Kazakh city of Aktau on Sunday.

It establishes a formula for dividing up its resources and prevents other powers from setting up a military presence there.

It is an important step in the easing of regional tensions, but the deal over the world’s largest inland body of water matters for several reasons.

Here’s what you need to know about the hotly disputed Caspian Sea.

1. Its legal status has been complicated

 It would be reasonable to assume that the Caspian Sea is, well, a sea. But at the heart of this long-running dispute is whether or not the 370,000 sq km (143,000 sq mile) body of landlocked water should be considered a lake.

Until the dissolution of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1991, that’s what it was known as and shared between the USSR and Iran.

But the arrival on the scene of new countries complicated this issue, with ensuing claim and counterclaim.

Iran had argued it was a lake and not a sea, but none of the four other countries agreed.

Why is the difference so important?

If it was treated as a sea, then it would be covered by international maritime law, namely the United Nations Law of the Sea.

This binding document sets rules on how countries can use the world’s oceans. It covers areas such as the management of natural resources, territorial rights, and the environment. And it is not limited to littoral states, meaning others can seek access to its resources.

But if it is defined as a lake, then it would have to be divided equally between all five countries.

Sunday’s agreement goes some way to settling this dispute.

The signed convention gives the body of water a “special legal status” which means it is not defined as a sea or a lake, Russian officials said.

The surface water will be in common usage, meaning freedom of access for all littoral states beyond territorial waters.

But the seabed – which is rich in natural resources – will be divided up.

2. Who wins and who loses?

 It’s difficult to say, as the final text of the deal is yet to be published.

Another key factor is that seabed boundaries are yet to be negotiated (although now it’s the subject of bilateral agreements – not multilateral as before).

But because the deal does not define the Caspian as a lake, Iran – which has the smallest coastline – is viewed as a potential loser.

Iranian social media users have accused the government in Tehran of “selling off” the Caspian Sea on Sunday.

Iran’s Caspian coast – does Iran lose out?

 However, Iran – which is currently under growing political and economic pressure from the West – might see some political benefits in securing the clause that bars any armed presence on the Caspian other than that of the five littoral states.

Had the Caspian been defined as a lake, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan – who have established an early claim over large areas of the Caspian – stood to lose out under such a split.

So the basis of all previous disagreements stems from who gets access to what. This is important because…

3. It is rich in oil and gas

 The Caspian Sea is highly-prized for its vast oil and gas reserves.

It’s estimated there are 50 billion barrels of oil and nearly 300 trillion cubic feet (8.4 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas beneath its seabed.

Soviet oil rigs are seen on the shores of the Caspian sea in Azerbaijan

 That is why disagreements over how to divide some of its huge oil and gas fields have been numerous – and acrimonious. On occasion, warships have been deployed to scare off contractors hired by rival countries.

The disagreement over its legal status has also prevented a natural gas pipeline being built across the Caspian between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. This would have allowed Turkmen gas to bypass Russia on its way to Europe.

Russia – a major exporter of gas and oil to Europe – has previously objected to this.

International oil companies that rushed to the Caspian in the 1990s have now pulled out.

But there is a possibility this could be explored further following Sunday’s deal.

4. It provides the world’s caviar

 The Caspian Sea has a number of different species of sturgeon, the fish that yields the highly prized delicacy caviar.

Between 80-90% of the world’s caviar is sourced from the Caspian, but the numbers have been falling over the past few decades.

The Caspian Sea is well-known for its population of sturgeon

 In 2002, a survey found that the fish was rapidly disappearing and could soon become extinct.

It also found an abnormally large proportion of young sturgeon in comparison to more mature fish which produce the eggs used to make caviar.

In response, various bans on sturgeon fishing in the Caspian Sea and on the caviar trade more generally have been introduced.

Significantly, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Sunday that the recent agreement allowed the setting of national quotas for fishing.

5. Pollution is a major problem

 The Caspian Sea has long suffered pollution from oil extraction and other industries.

Oil pollution has affected the migration routes of sturgeon, according to the UN’s Caucasus Environment Outlook.

It says sturgeon swim through highly polluted water near Azerbaijan’s Absheron Peninsula – and that is believed to limit their food and oxygen.

Oil glistens on the surface of the Caspian Sea

A more recent concern is bacterial pollution caused by sewage from Iran, which is adding to the threats facing sturgeon fish.

The Caspian Sea’s disputed legal status was also a risk factor for the environment – as no enforcement would have been possible to deal with a major oil spill or other pollution incident in disputed waters.</s>The signed convention on the legal status for the Caspian Sea must go through the legal channels to get finalized and according to legal procedures in Iran it should be approved by the Iranian Parliament,” said Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday.

The Iranian head of government made the remarks during a press conference on the sidelines of the 5th Summit of the Caspian Sea Littoral States in Kazakh coastal city of Aktau.

Saying that the first positive step needed to meet the desired results of this agreement is good neighborliness and good relations between the five governments of the Caspian Sea littoral states.

“The relationships that currently exist between Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and Azerbaijan are very friendly relations and this was the main contributing factor for reaching this agreements.

“If the governments were not close, their relations were far off; the national interests of all of us were not considered; the people of this region did not have a long history of relations; and we could not, so easily, sign seven documents in one day, including a basic document and six MoUs for cooperation,” Rouhani underlined.

“Today, one of the most important achievements of this Convention was the security of the Caspian Sea. We announced unanimously that the Caspian Sea belongs to five countries and no more. We explicitly announced that no foreign forces can travel on the Caspian Sea, and that the security of this sea is exclusively up to the five countries. What we asserted that the land of any country in the Caspian Sea could not be exploited against another coastal state is for stabilizing the security of the Caspian Sea, which is important for all of us,” highlighted the Iranian president.

The convention provides a good basis for the five countries to continue their joint work on the latest issues for the legal problems of the sea, he added.

“I am glad that today we reached better conditions to tap the capacities, more than ever for the nations, of the Caspian Sea in shipping, tourism, transit and oil and gas resources,” he concluded his address to the media.

The presidents of the five coastal states- Iran, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Russia and Kazakhstan- met on Sunday in Kazakhstan's northwestern city of Aktau at the fifth Caspian summit to take stock of many years of negotiations on the legal status of the Caspian Sea. The heads of states signed the convention of the legal status of the Caspian Sea in the summit and 5 agreements to expand regional cooperation.

The first meeting of the Caspian states’ leaders was held in Ashgabat in 2002, and the other summits were convened in Tehran, Baku and Astrakhan.

The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and accounts for 40 to 44 percent of the total lacustrine waters of the world. The coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan.

The question of determining the legal status of the Caspian Sea have gained relevance after the collapse of the USSR, when the emergence of new subjects of international law — Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan — raised the question of the delimitation of the Caspian between the five countries. The difficulty of determining the status of the Caspian sea are related, in particular, with the recognition of its lake or sea, the delimitation of which is governed by different provisions of international law.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, heading a politico-legal delegation, arrived in Kazakhstan’s Aktau on Saturday and took part at the Caspian littoral states’ ministerial meeting.

Kazakhstan’s Aktau, the venue for this year’s summit, is a city with a population of 180,000, whose residents greatly depend on the production and processing of Caspian resources.</s>The leaders of five countries bordering the Caspian Sea signed a landmark convention Sunday regarding the legal status of the body of water.

Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed the deal in the small seaside city of Aktau, in Kazakhstan.

The inland sea has been a bone of contention among the five bordering countries since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The agreement is expected to ease regional tensions, and could accelerate the development of lucrative oil and gas projects.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazerbyev, who hosted the meeting, said before the signing ceremony that the leaders were "participants in a historic event."

"We can admit that consensus on the status of the sea was hard to reach and not immediate, the talks lasted more than 20 years and called for a lot of joint efforts from the parties," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who pushed for an agreement, said the deal had "epoch-making significance" and called for more military cooperation among the countries bordering the Caspian.

Sunday's meeting was the fifth of its kind since 2002 but there were more than 50 lower-level meetings since the collapse of the Soviet Union gave birth to four new countries surrounding the inland sea.

One bone of contention among the participants was whether the body of water is a sea or a lake — each of which is subject to different international laws.

The convention refers to the Caspian as a sea but Russia's deputy foreign minister Grifory Karasin told Kommersant daily this week that provisions in the treaty give it "a special legal status."

The convention keeps most of the sea in shared use but nonetheless divides-up the seabed and underground resources, according to the Kremlin.

Iran ended up with the smallest share of the sea in accordance with the terms of the deal, and may end up a potential loser in the agreement.

That would explain why Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the deal "a major document" on Sunday but stressed that it doesn't solve all of the disagreements surrounding the sea.

"Today we have a framework for actions in the Caspian Sea which was not the case before," Rouhani said in comments translated into English. "But there are other issues to deal with in other meetings."

Still, Rouhani hailed a stipulation in the convention that prevents non-Caspian countries from deploying military forces on the sea.

"The Caspian Sea," he said, "only belongs to the Caspian states."

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.</s>“There is no such thing as dividing the Caspian Sea among the littoral states, or determining the seabed and subsoil boundaries in the Convention,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi in a statement on Sunday.

His comment comes as heads of the five Caspian Sea littoral states – Iran, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan – have convened in the Kazakh city of Aktau to sign a convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest enclosed body of water contested between the five countries.

Ghasemi went on to add, “the Caspian coastal lines have certain complexities [dealing with which] requires more expert negotiations. We are hopeful that in future each of the five littoral states will reach satisfactory results through understanding and consensus.”

The Iranian diplomat further maintained that the convention excludes the military and non-military presence of any outside country, or the establishment of any military base in the Caspian Sea.

“The five states will not allow other countries to use their sea, soil or airspace to launch attacks on any of the Caspian Sea littoral states,” Ghasemi stressed.</s>The Summit of Caspian States, which brings together the leaders of countries bordering the inland sea, has extraordinary significance, the convention guarantees that countries outside the region are absent from the Caspian Sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

The meeting is expected to last an hour and a half, followed by a signing ceremony and a photo opportunity.

The state leaders will then take a stroll along the Caspian waterfront.

READ MORE: US Military Bases at Caspian Sea ‘Out of Question' — Kazakh Foreign Minister

The water surface will mainly be open for joint use, while the sea floor can be accessed based on the international legal framework. The convention also reaffirms that no states other than the five signatories can place their armed forces at the Caspian Sea.

Leaders of the five states surrounding the Caspian Sea will establish the Caspian economic forum, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.

"The decision to establish the Caspian economic forum will allow to strengthen contacts between business communities of our countries," the Russian president said at the summit of the Caspian Sea littoral states in Kazakhstan's city of Aktau.</s>AKTAU, Kazakhstan: The leaders of the five states bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea signed a landmark deal Sunday on the legal status of the inland sea which

boasts a wealth of oil and gas reserves and sturgeon.

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan signed the agreement on the status of the inland sea, which has been disputed since the collapse of the Soviet Union rendered obsolete agreements between Tehran and Moscow.

The host, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, said before the signing that the leaders were “participants in a historic event.”“We can admit that consensus on the status of the sea was hard to reach and not immediate, the talks lasted more than 20 years and called for a lot of joint efforts from the parties,” Nazarbayev said.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin, whose country was seen as driving the deal, said the convention had “epoch-making significance” and called for more military cooperation between the countries on the Caspian.

Nazarbayev said the convention allows for the construction of underwater oil and gas pipelines as well as setting national quotas for fishing and forbids any foreign military presence. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quick to hail the clause that prevents non-Caspian countries from deploying military forces.

“The Caspian Sea only belongs to the Caspian states,” he said.Putin also praised this clause, saying it would help “ensure the peaceful status of the Caspian Sea.”

The deal provides a means of delimiting national boundaries in the sea whose underground energy resources are estimated at 50 billion barrels of oil and just under 300 trillion cubic feet (8.4 trillion cubic metres) of natural gas.

But Rouhani stressed several times during the summit that these boundaries still need to be worked out between the countries.

Iran, which ended up with the smallest share of the sea under the terms of the convention, is viewed as a potential loser in the deal. Sunday’s summit was the fifth of its kind since 2002 but there have been more than 50 lower-level meetings since the Soviet breakup spawned four new countries on the shores of the Caspian.

The deal goes some way to settling a long-lasting dispute on whether the Caspian is a sea or a lake — which means it falls under different international laws.

While the convention refers to the Caspian as a sea, provisions in the agreement give it “a special legal status”, Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin told Kommersant daily earlier this week.

The agreement also offers hope for the Caspian’s ecological diversity and its depleted stocks of the beluga sturgeon, whose eggs are prized globally as caviar.

While it remains to be seen how the deal will be implemented, the summit in Aktau was another opportunity for Moscow to present itself as a diplomatic deal-maker.

After years of unsuccessful negotiations on the Caspian the Kremlin “gains political kudos for breaking a log-jam,” said John Roberts, a non-resident senior fellow at Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov greeted the deal enthusiastically as his country wants to send gas to markets in Europe via a long-planned Trans-Caspian underwater pipeline.

The project is billed as allowing European countries to ease their dependence on gas from Russia at a time of heightened geopolitical confrontation.

Nevertheless, Iran and Russia could still challenge the pipeline on ecological grounds. They have previously blocked the project, which could cost up to $5 billion to build and would have a projected capacity of 30 billion cubic metres per year.

Kate Mallinson, Associate Fellow for the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, urged caution over the prospects for the pipeline, saying the Aktau deal “is not a legal prerequisite for the construction.”

“Neither will a major transport corridor to export Turkmen gas to Europe emerge overnight.”</s>Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

MOSCOW — Leaders of the five countries along the Caspian Sea have signed a convention aimed at ending decades-long uncertainty over exploitation of its resources.

The agreement signed Sunday in Aktau, Kazakhstan, by the presidents of Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan, establishes rules for declaring each country’s territorial waters and fishing zones. But the issue of how the seabed, which contains rich oil fields, will be delineated between the countries remains subject to further negotiations.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, according to the news agency Interfax, says “this issue will be settled additionally in the course of agreements between the relevant parties.”

The legal status of the Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland body of water, had been unresolved since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.</s>Five littoral states -- Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan -- on Sunday will sign a document on the legal status of the Caspian Sea.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov will meet in the Kazakh city of Aktau, where they will hold the Fifth Caspian Summit.

Aktau on Saturday will host the Caspian Foreign Ministers Meeting prior to the summit.

The summit will focus on three main items; legal status of the Caspian Sea, cooperation in the Caspian Sea, and regional and global issues.

By the end of the summit, the sides plan to sign the main outcome document, Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea, which was finalized at the Caspian Foreign Ministers Meeting in Moscow late 2017.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Caspian littoral states started negotiations over the legal status of the sea. However, wide divisions between these countries created a deadlock, preventing the sharing of the sea’s rich hydrocarbon resources.

According to the draft agreement, an area of 15 nautical miles from the coast will be regarded as the respective country's territory.

By adding 10 nautical miles to this distance, a total of 25 nautical miles will be set as the fishing zone of each country.

The remaining parts will be neutral zones open to common use.

The bottom of the Caspian Sea will be divided among the littoral states.

The agreement also included the principles of preservation of a military balance, the protection of biological resources and navigation safety.

It will imply equal rights for all littoral states.

Experts believe that the littoral states will get closer both in political and economic terms after the signing of the legal status of the Caspian Sea.
After more than 20 years of negotiations, the five countries bordering the Caspian Sea sign an agreement in Aktau, Kazakhstan, on its shared use and the distribution of its resources. The convention legally defines the body of water as a sea rather than a lake, but with special provisions.