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By Trend

The draft Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea provides for the possibility for the participating countries to lay underwater pipelines, RIA Novosti reports with reference to the document published by the government of the Russian Federation.

On June 22, a government decree was published with a proposal to the President of the Russian Federation to sign the draft Convention. The draft itself is also published on the official Internet portal of legal information of Russia.

"The parties may lay underwater cables and pipelines along the bottom of the Caspian Sea," article 14 of the draft Convention says. At the same time, it is stipulated that such projects must meet environmental requirements and standards "set forth in international treaties to which they are parties". In particular, reference is made to the framework Convention for the protection of the marine environment of the Caspian Sea of 2003 and its protocols.

"The definition of the route for laying underwater cables and pipelines is carried out in agreement with the party through the bottom sector of which an underwater cable or pipeline should be carried out," the draft Convention notes.

The countries that lay the pipeline are obliged to inform the parties to the future Convention of the coordinates of the areas where cables and pipelines are laid and underwater work is prohibited.

The Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea is a five-sided document between Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Iran. The issue of the status of the Caspian Sea remains a key topic of discussion at the summits of the states of the region.

For the first time, the leaders of the five countries met in 2002 in Ashgabat. The second Caspian summit was held in Tehran in 2007, the third - in Baku in 2010, and the fourth - in Astrakhan in 2014. In particular, the difficulties in determining the status of the Caspian Sea are related to its recognition as a sea or lake, the delimitation of which is regulated by different provisions of international law.

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