Only vessels of Caspian states to navigate in Caspian Sea

MOSCOW (AA) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the five Caspian states have reached an agreement on military use in the Caspian Sea.

“It was decided that navigation is carried out only by vessels under the flag of one of the Caspian countries and the same principle applies to the entry and exit of any vessel from the Caspian Sea,” Lavrov said at a news conference in Turkmenistan’s capital Ashgabat after meeting the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

Asked about new Western arms deliveries to Ukraine, Lavrov said it happened simultaneously with statements about the unacceptability of achieving peace on Russia’s terms, as well as the impossibility of starting peace negotiations until Ukraine achieves “a decisive turning point in the fighting.”

The minister called it “counterproductive and harmful” and said the more Ukraine is pumped with weapons, the longer the conflict will last.

Asked about the possibility of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy getting NATO’s direct military support, Lavrov said: “I will not guess what President Zelenskyy hopes and thinks. It doesn’t matter because he doesn’t make the decisions. They are accepted in Washington and by no means at the presidential level, but by well-known officials in the State Department and probably even in the presidential administration.”

Lavrov also said Russia is not interested whether Zelenskyy will take part in the G20 summit in Indonesia.

“In the coming days, the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo will visit the Russian Federation. Preparations for the G20 will be one of the key topics of his talks with (Russian) President Vladimir Putin,” he said.

About the results of the summit of BRICS leaders — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — Lavrov said countries are ready to consider expansion by accepting Argentina and Iran as members but the decision will be made by consensus.