RUSSIA ADVOCATES CASPIAN RAPID REACTION FORCE
RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, February 17, (RIA Novosti) - Russia wants to establish a naval interaction taskforce on the Caspian Sea on the lines of BlackSeaFor operating on the Black Sea. The force would prevent the spread of WMDs, combat terrorism and counter organized crime, according to Alexander Golovin, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador at large and head of the Caspian working group. He was speaking at a round table in the Federation Council on ways of implementing a single international system of collective security in the Caspian Sea.
Agreement to establish the Black Sea naval cooperation task force BlackSeaFor was reached in Istanbul in 2001 by six littoral states - Bulgaria, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine.
BlackSeaFor will be responsible for search and rescue operations, rendering humanitarian assistance, removing mines in the area and protecting the environment. It could also take part in UN and OSCE actions if all the countries involved give consent. An international headquarters has been formed to run the group.
The group has been conducting joint exercises since 2002.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
