Abstract

The article analyzes the political and legal peculiarity of the status of the Caspian Sea. The basic stages of the negotiation process of the Caspian states were determined and the main provisions of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian Sea were analyzed. It is argued that the adoption of this document has affected the formation of regional security. Officially the Caspian states have agreed on the inadmissibility of the presence of third parties in the Caspian Sea. The indicated main gaps remain uncoordinated between the parties. It states that as the Caspian Sea is not linked to neither open sea nor ocean, it should, according to international law, be considered as a closed sea. There was also an argument that even without a link to ocean, Caspian Sea was a typical boundary lake situated between two states: the Soviet Union and Iran. Ali the post-Soviet Caspian states, except Russia, declared at once their non-recognition of the legal force of the Soviet Iranian contractual base pertaining to the Caspian Sea. The Soviet Union and Iran were successful in negotiation of the issues of commercial navigation and fishing and there was no resolution of delimitation. Geopolitical and economic interests stand behind the disputes surrounding the significance of the Caspian oil resources. The international-legal status of the Caspian Sea started its formation in the period when the confrontation between Russia and Persia, as well as, Russia and Great Britain for possession of the Caspian territories, and Caspian Sea, was under way. It describes the ongoing conflicts, which are primarily due to various riparian states; territorial claims concerning the extraction of oil and gas resources, and argues that the current legal framework on the use and protection of the Caspian Sea is obsolete. Ali disputes between the Caspian states are settled, on the basis of the international law, and according to consuetude and contractual practice of other boundary lakes. Some time provisions of the Roman law will become imperative in the interstate relations of the Caspian states. Mutual trust and the recognition of the law will lead the Caspian states to necessity of creation of the Caspian international court or arbitration. This article examine that the signing of the Convention on the legal status of the Caspian sea is a big deal and an achievement of the policy of littoral states. The Convention defines the legal status of the waters, the seabed, and the subsoil of the Caspian Sea. It regulates the use of natural resources and the airspace over the sea. The new regime for the Caspian Sea under the Convention constitutes a compromise.