War in the Caspian may become a reality

Text of report by the website of heavyweight Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 22 November

[Report by Sergey Kulikov: "War in the Caspian may become a reality – The conflict surrounding the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is developing according to the Georgian scenario"]

The competition over supplies of gas to Europe threatens to take the form of an armed conflict on the Caspian Sea, where the question of whom the water area belongs to remains a subject of international dispute. Yesterday President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev called the prospect of the construction of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TKG) from Turkmenistan to Azerbaijan "very nebulous." And Russian experts are warning outright that ignoring Russia’s position may lead to a confrontation using force similar to the Georgian scenario in 2008. In the meantime, the European Union is demanding that Russia not set up obstructions to the TKG project, or else they threaten to hamper progress on South Stream [gas pipeline].