Russia and Azerbaijan have decided to spend in the coming year naval exercises in the Caspian sea, said on the first day of the week at a meeting With Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, head of the defense Ministry of Azerbaijan Zakir Hasanov.

" We have reached consensus on cooperation between the Russian Navy and the naval forces of Azerbaijan. For example, will hold General command and staff training and tactical exercises in the Caspian sea, as Well as some other events in the line of the Navy, " said the Minister.

According to Shoigu, the strengthening of international cooperation on the Caspian sea " one of the main areas of work ".

" With this in mind, we discussed the prospects of establishing a system of collective security in the Caspian sea interaction in the prevention of aircraft accidents and transparency of military navigation ", - noted the head of the Russian defense Ministry.

according to him, the first step towards creating a system of collective security in the Caspian sea could be the development of the Council of commanders of naval forces and the preparation of a draft five-party agreement on prevention of incidents on the Caspian sea and in the airspace above it.

Caspian breakthrough

The fifth summit of heads of Caspian countries, held at the end of September in Astrakhan, was marked by a breakthrough had been waiting for almost 20 years: the leaders of Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran agreed on a political message, where the first time recorded a future consensus on the status of the Caspian sea. This will give the opportunity in 2015 to adopt the Declaration, which will put an end to disputes about how to divide the Caspian sea and how to use its resources.

Also the presidents agreed that military activity in the area should be carried out on the principle of " reasonable sufficiency " and ensuring equal security For all Caspian countries. They also confirmed correlated first principle " narisetti on the Caspian sea military power, not owned by the parties."

For the Russian Federation the results of the summit were regular and considerable success on the Eastern direction of foreign policy, which took place against the background of a serious deterioration in relations With the West because of the events around Ukraine. Before this year, Moscow has reached a historic consensus With China on gas supplies. Got to make substantial progress in the development of the Shanghai cooperation organization, which is already in the coming year have the opportunity to join India and Pakistan.

sections: Politics