Military Exercises Reflect Russia's Caspian Strategy: News Analysis

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, August 18, 2002

Military Exercises Reflect Russia's Caspian Strategy: News Analysis

For the past two weeks, Russia has launched large-scale military exercises on the Caspian Sea to sharpen its anti-terrorist operations.

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For the past two weeks, Russia has launched large-scale military exercises on the Caspian Sea to sharpen its anti-terrorist operations.

More than 10,000 people, 60 warships and 30 reconnaissance and fighter jets participated in the largest exercises on the Caspian since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. So what purpose did these record maneuvers serve in terms of Russia's strategic interests?

First, the military exercises were intended to keep up with the changing situation in the Central Asian, Afghanistan and the Caucasus regions.

In recent years, terrorists from Russia's breakaway republic of Chechnya and bordering Afghanistan have been conducting activities in the Caspian region. By now the terrorist forces in Afghanistan have been heavily crippled but not eradicated, and the Chechen rebels still present a major threat to Russia's security.

Concerned by these facts, Russia has included the Caspian region to its strategic security area, together with the southern Caucasus region, where Russia believes the main threat will come, and the Central Asia region, its traditional backyard. To enhance military capabilities in this area is a long-term and important task for the Russian government.

Second, Moscow intends to exercise its influence over the resource-rich Caspian Sea by reinforcing the military presence there. The legal status of the Caspian, which is believed to hold 90 to 200 trillion barrels oil in reserves, remains contentious among the five states bordering the sea. Since President Vladimir Putin took his post two years ago, Russia has made several diplomatic efforts on the issue but failed to reach an agreement with the other four countries.

Thirdly, Russia's exercises are considered a response to the economic and military infiltration by the US-lead West in former Soviet republics. Holding the flag of anti-terrorism, the US has deployed its troops in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, sent military instructors to Georgia to help train special task forces,and strengthened military and economic cooperation with Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

Due to a weakened state, Russia can do little to prevent such penetration, and its traditional influence in these areas has suffered a serious setback. Analysts here said the exercise could be interpreted as Russia's declaration to avoid the West's further invasion in state security and strategic interests.

Military analysts said the exercises also reflected some shifts in Russia's military policies -- from conducting large-scale confrontation with the West to concentrating on the country's realistic problems.

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