October 16, 2007 (LPAC)--Russian President Vladimir Putin took the occasion of his address to today's summit meeting of the five Caspian Sea littoral countries, held in Tehran, Iran, to warn against the regional consequences of any aggression against any one of the five nations. Building on his remarks on the subject during his press conference yesterday in Germany, Putin said that the Caspian countries had established a good pattern of solving problems through dialogue, "respecting each other's interests and sovereignty, and refraining not only from any use of force whatsoever, but even from mentioning the possiblity of using force." Putin went on, "This is very important, as it is also important that we talk about the impossibility of allowing our own territory to be used by other countries in the event of aggression or any military actions against any one of the Caspian littoral states." It was an unmistakable allusion to the hopes of circles around U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to use Azerbaijan for basing or refuelling purposes during an attack on Iran.

The declaration, signed by the Presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan, incorporated this principle of not allowing their territory to be used for attacks on any of the others.

The summit was the first Caspian group meeting at the heads-of-state level since 2002, and thus the first such meeting for Presidents Ahmadinejad of Iran and Berdymuhammadov of Turkmenistan. The five countries are still working to settle control of the Caspian Sea surface, waters, sea-floor, and subsoil resources.

Both Putin and Iranian officials, after the meeting, emphasized the summit's decision to form a Caspian Sea Economic Cooperation Organization, with its first conference slated for next year. Putin, in his opening speech, welcomed Kazakstan's initiative for a stability pact in the area, and Iran's for an agreement on confidence-building and stability. He said that Russia was pushing for the creation of a joint naval group to patrol the Caspian, and for infrastructure projects, especially the development of the North-South Transport Corridor, which runs from India to Russia, through the Caspian Sea area. Putin also mentioned the project to complete a Caspian-to-Black Sea Canal through southern Russia, but further south than the Volga-Don Canal that currently connects shipping traffic between the two seas.