Translated material
Caucasus on the "platform"
Russia liked the Turkish initiative, except for some nuances
Turkish President Abdullah Gul will pay an official visit to Russia before the end of the year. This was announced yesterday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after negotiations with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan. The ministers discussed ways to eliminate the consequences of Georgia's military attack on South Ossetia. Russia supported the idea put forward by Turkey in August to create a regional organization in the Caucasus similar to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.For now, this initiative is called the “Platform for Stability and Cooperation in the Caucasus.” The Turks explain that they want to help ensure security in the region, including energy security. Yesterday, Ali Babacan noted that despite the “commonality of approaches” to this idea, during the negotiations some “nuances” have already emerged that will still be discussed.
Russia reminded Turkey that it is obliged to monitor compliance with the convention on the regime of the Black Sea straits of 1936, which allows non-Black Sea powers to send to sea only light surface ships, small combat and auxiliary vessels with a total tonnage of no more than 45 thousand tons and for a period of no more than three weeks . The NATO maritime group, which has been in the Black Sea since August 21, has another week left. The Russian-Turkish Political Declaration of 2004 envisions bringing bilateral relations to the “level of advanced multifaceted partnership.” This requires Ankara, given its NATO membership, to be flexible.