Russia, Iran and other countries bordering the Caspian Sea yesterday excluded the foreign military presence, in a clear allusion to NATO, in that area, which is used by the Russian army to launch missiles against Ukraine.
“The non-presence in the Caspian Sea of armed forces that do not belong to neighboring countries (Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan)”, reads the statement released at the end of the meeting held in Asjabad, the capital of Turkmenistan, and quoted by the Spanish news agency Efe
The Kremlin, which managed to get the United States of America to withdraw all its military bases from Central Asia, accused the West of trying to expand into the former Soviet space, considered Russia’s ‘backyard’.
Russian President Vladimir Putin took advantage of the meeting to break the international isolation since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, which he calls a “special military operation”, more than four months ago.
In the statement, while defending the founding principles of the United Nations, the five presidents highlighted the “growing role of the Caspian Sea region in the world” and “the importance of cooperation in the military sphere”.
The countries, the text quoted by Efe also says, also undertake to guarantee the security and stability of the region, and not to cede their territory to other states to commit aggression or other military actions against any of their neighbors.
