Not enough attention is being paid to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s trip to Iran to a summit meeting of countries bordering the Caspian Sea:
TEHRAN, Iran – Russian leader Vladimir Putin met his Iranian counterpart Tuesday and implicitly warned the U.S. not to use a former Soviet republic to stage an attack on Iran. He also said nations shouldn’t pursue oil pipeline projects in the area if they weren’t backed by regional powers.
At a summit of the five nations that border the inland Caspian Sea, Putin said none of the nations’ territory should be used by any outside countries for use of military force against any nation in the region. It was a clear reference to long-standing rumors that the U.S. was planning to use Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, as a staging ground for any possible military action against Iran.
“We are saying that no Caspian nation should offer its territory to third powers for use of force or military aggression against any Caspian state,” Putin said.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also underlined the need to keep outsiders away from the Caspian.
“All Caspian nations agree on the main issue — that all aspects related to this sea must be settled exclusively by littoral nations,” he said. “The Caspian Sea is an inland sea and it only belongs to the Caspian states, therefore only they are entitled to have their ships and military forces here.”
Putin, whose trip to Tehran is the first by a Kremlin leader since World War II, warned that energy pipeline projects crossing the Caspian could only be implemented if all five nations that border the Caspian support them.
Putin did not name any specific country, but his statement underlined Moscow’s strong opposition to U.S.-backed efforts to build pipelines to deliver hydrocarbons to the West bypassing Russia.
“Projects that may inflict serious environmental damage to the region cannot be implemented without prior discussion by all five Caspian nations,” he said.
Other nations bordering the Caspian Sea and in attendance at the summit are: Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan.
Consider the two prongs of this statement, first, that Russia has a veto over the military alliances of other neighboring countries and, second, that Russia has a veto over oil pipeline projects in the region. This would bear comparison with the Monroe Doctrine, in which the fledgling United States warned Europe’s colonizers to keep their mitts off the newly-independent countries of the Americas.
A considerable amount of Europe’s energy future resides in trade with countries that border the Caspian Sea and, apparently, under Putin Russia envisions its future as something like the robber barons, the Raubritters of medieval Germany, demanding tolls of passing ships on the Rhine River.
Updated
Some interesting perspective from Dave in Boca:
I was present at many of the events leading to the inception of the pipeline in the mid-90s and even then, the Russians opposed the Amoco-sponsored [along with BP] project which would serve as an alternative artery of crude oil to the West.
I have written several times on this blog about the Russians’ steadfast opposition to alternative energy sources from the Caspian. Now with his visit to Tehran, Putin, whose subtlety matches the brutal political culture of his Motherland, openly claims some sort of primus-inter-pares role for Russia and Iran on the Caspian littoral. This has been a debate of more than a decade, and at one point Russia claimed that any offshore resources should be shared equally by all littoral states, even if they were only a few miles offshore from Baku, for example.
Putin and Ahmadodojihad are trying to pull a power play on Gaidar Aliyev, the Azeri President [whom I had the privilege of escorting to a Chicago Bulls game over a decade ago] who must depend almost entirely on American and Turkish geostrategic support to maintain a balance of power in his beleaguered republic.
The comparison to the Monroe Doctrine is interesting, but may not be entirely apt. The US never had doctrine that said that we would prohibit other American nations from inviting in European powers. All we said was that no new colonies could be carved out, and that we would defend the Americas against outside interference. In practice, this required Britain’s cooperation, as well as the other nations’ support. In contrast, the Russians are asserting a right to interfere with their neighbors, instead of a will to prevent outside interference.
The first trip by a Kremlin leader since Stalin visited occupied Iran for the Tehran Conference and pledged the Soviets would withdraw at the conclusion of the war, a pledge later broken, leading to the first conflict of the Cold War. Putin is no Stalin, but I’m sure the memories haven’t faded.
I was using compare in the sense of contrast.
Actually, I’m surprised how at the degree to which the memories have faded, PD. One of the forces that put Mossadegh into power was the Soviet-backed Tudeh and one of the forces that brought his government down was the loss of the Tudeh’s support.
But Iranians would rather believe that all of their problems were created by the Great Satan. That the democracy-loving Mossadegh was overthrown by the United States is part of the foundation mythology of the present Iranian state and they’re not favorably disposed to disturbing that mythology.
No doubt the Iranians harbor grudges against the U.S., as well as Britain, Russia and Turkey. Its my understanding that Iranian children are taught the geography of Greater Iran, places like Baghdad, Herat and Baku, that once were Persian and remain the bounty of hegemonic expectations. And here is Putin in Iran dictating Russian terms for the Caspian.
BTW/ Here is a good article that lays out many of the strategic angles in the conference:
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_22962.shtml