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Russia flexes muscles in Caspian with large-scale military exercises

MOSCOW, Aug 1 (AFP) - Russia on Thursday launched its biggest post-Soviet military exercises in the Caspian Sea, which will involve more than 60 warships and 10,000 men, as it flexed its muscles in the disputed, oil-rich region.

The two-week exercises are divided into two stages: tactical scenarios involving no manpower or equipment until August 7, and then war games until August 15 with air, sea and land forces.

Some 30 planes and helicopters will also take part in the exercises, which will involve all branches of the Russian military, including 4,000 sailors from the Caspian Fleet.

Russian navy commander Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov denied that Russia was demonstrating its military strength but he signalled that Moscow wanted to show it can protect its interests.

"By planning exercises of the Caspian Fleet we are not trying to demonstrate our strength. But Russia has a strong military potential for tackling its tasks in the Caspian Sea should peaceful means fail," he told the Interfax news agency.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the war games in April a day after a summit of heads of state from the five Caspian states in Turkmenistan aimed at resolving the partition of the Caspian Sea's oil wealth ended in failure.

The Caspian Sea is thought to hold the world's third biggest oil and gas reserves after Russia and the Gulf, but exploration is being held up by the dispute over boundaries.

Iran, with backing from Turkmenistan, wants the sea to be split five ways, with each country apportioned 20 percent of the Caspian.

However, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russia favour splitting the sea according to the length of the nations' shorelines, which would leave the Islamic republic with the smallest share, about 13 percent.

Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will be taking part in the exercises, with Azerbaijan sending two ships including a minesweeper and Kazakhstan four Su-27 fighter planes, according to Russian defence military sources cited by Interfax.

Representatives from Iran and Turkmenistan have been invited as observers.

The state news agency RIA Novosti reported that Iran had asked to take part in the exercises but Russia had refused, citing a 1924 treaty between Tehran and the then Soviet Union which barred all warships other than Soviet from the Caspian.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko denied that the military exercises were aimed at any another country and insisted that Moscow's aim was to safeguard regional stability.

"This is not a threat to foreign states," Yakovenko told RIA Novosti, adding that Russia's military presence in the Caspian was "an important factor in maintaining regional security and stability."

Iran is claiming a substantial offshore oil prospect which Azerbaijan insists belong to it. The row nearly spilled over into military action last summer when an Iranian navy ship threatened to fire on an Azeri oil research vessel surveying the disputed oil prospect.

The Russian official pointed to the need to protect the strategic and economically important zone against the global terrorist threat, especially because of the region's proximity to Afghanistan.

The highlight of the war games, which are taking place in the northern sector of the Caspian as well as on land in Astrakhan and Dagestan, will be a blockade of some remote isles to flush out suspected terrorists and arms and drugs smugglers.

The exercises will also simulate operations to free an oil platform seized by terrorists, foil an explosion on a railroad bridge over the Volga and clean up after an oil spill.

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