Moscow offered the Caspian littoral countries, namely, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, to hold full-scale joint exercises of emergency response services in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sept. 29, RIA Novosti reported.
"As the first actions, we propose to organize full-scale five-sided exercises of emergency response services in 2016," President Putin said an expanded meeting of the fourth summit of the Caspian countries. This will allow working out the notification procedures, coordinating rescue teams in practice."
The fourth Caspian summit opened in Astrakhan Sept. 29, the Russian presidential website reported.
The presidents of all Caspian littoral countries, namely, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Iran Hassan Rouhani, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, gathered at the summit, the statement says.
The "Caspian Five" participants discussed, in particular, the legal status of the Caspian Sea and the military component of the security in the region.