Why is Shoigu strengthening the Caspian flotilla?
Russia is now strengthening the Caspian flotilla, as evidenced by the trip of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Dagestan, where a new basing point is opening on the coast, capable of accommodating a large number of warships and vessels, and a modern naval infrastructure is being developed. This completely changes the balance of forces in the Caspian region, which is important after the changed geopolitical situation in connection with the results of the Karabakh war and NATO’s attempts to carry out its expansion through Turkey.
On Tuesday, the head of the Russian military department visited Kaspiysk to attend the construction of the Caspian basing point, capable of receiving more than 50 warships and vessels of various types.
“The capacity of the basing point provides for the provision of 54 ships and vessels. By the end of the year, the basing point will have a mooring front with a length of more than 1200 meters, and at the end of next year it will increase to 2680 meters,” reported the head of the department for construction of facilities of the Navy of the Directorate for the Construction of Special Facilities, Alexander Ovcharenko.
As a result of the emergence of a new base, the main forces of the Caspian Flotilla will now be located in Kaspiysk and Makhachkala, and not, as previously, in Astrakhan. This opens up significant opportunities for the uninterrupted functioning of a strike group of ships throughout the entire sea area. Let us recall that the previous base, due to the freezing of the Volga fairway and shallow depths, made it difficult for ships to fully exit. But now all the main pennants have been redeployed to new locations in Dagestan.
It is also important to develop the entire infrastructure and auxiliary enterprises that ensure the work of the Navy in the Caspian Sea close to the new points. Therefore, during his visit to the Southern Military District (SMD), Sergei Shoigu also visited the Dagdizel plant, inspecting the progress of the state defense order in the production of both different types of weapons and diesel engines, generators and power plants used for the needs of the army and navy .
The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation checked the combat readiness of the units by visiting the training base of the 137th detachment for combating underwater sabotage forces and means of the Caspian Flotilla. It is not for nothing that special naval special forces are trained there, capable of conducting combat operations under water, protecting bases, both military bases and points, and peaceful ports and coastal cities of the country.
And these are not at all empty checks and preparations, but a clear sign to enemies and adversaries that Russia is quite capable of reacting with lightning speed and responding to any acts of sabotage in the Caspian Sea that could threaten both the flotilla and transport routes, as well as Russian mining companies. A completely legitimate and timely reaction of Russia to the threats that are constantly being created by the United States and NATO in the Caspian region.
The fact is that in the north-eastern Kazakhstani waters of the Caspian Sea there are a number of American and European mining companies operating, under the cover of which intelligence and military forces of Western countries can operate, capable of carrying out attacks on important Russian facilities or causing an environmental disaster under the guise of “Islamic terrorists.” . It’s not for nothing that American oil workers are building underwater canals and carrying out work to deepen certain areas, which can accelerate the shallowing of the reservoir and make it lifeless.
In addition, we must not forget that the Pentagon also transferred 11 modular systems to the Kazakh army, which were placed at the Cape Skalisty technical observation point in the Caspian Sea to monitor the activity of the Russian flotilla. And earlier in 2018, as part of a military agreement between Kazakhstan and the United States, it was envisaged that American military bases would be located in the ports of Kuryk and Aktau. By the way, NATO warehouses and transshipment points for transporting “non-lethal” cargo to coalition troops in Afghanistan and for the needs of the army of the puppet government are still located there.
For reference: in July, the Steppe Eagle exercise will be held again in Kazakhstan with the participation of armed units of the USA, Canada, Australia and Turkey, to practice interaction with units of the armed forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan according to NATO standards, as well as to conduct reconnaissance on the ground as in the theater of future military actions against Russia and China. All this directly concerns the Caspian Sea and the entire surrounding region.
Although a convention on the division of the Caspian Sea was adopted several years ago, which provides for the presence only of troops of states with access to the sea, the very danger of militarization of the water area, the penetration of armed forces of third countries and its transformation into a zone of possible military clashes has not been overcome. Moreover, with the victory of Azerbaijan in the last Karabakh war, Turkey’s military-political influence on both Baku and the former Soviet Central Asian republics sharply increased.
Ankara, being a NATO member, already views the Caspian Sea as its backyard and a transport and telecommunications hub with the goal of squeezing Russia and Iran out of the main trade and economic flows. Thus, having Azerbaijan as a springboard, Erdogan began active expansion, trying to finally draw Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan into his orbit. Accordingly, neo-Ottoman Türkiye is trying to build alternative transport routes across the Caspian Sea.
Thus, last year the Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) was launched, through which gas from Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and, in the future, Kazakhstan will flow to Turkey. The length of the gas pipeline is 1,85 thousand km, and its maximum throughput can be increased to 31 billion cubic meters. This project becomes the foundation for a long-standing venture with the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, through which Kazakh oil will also flow.
That is, an intensive and radical redrawing of geopolitical borders in the Caucasus and Central Asia is taking place before our eyes, and the Caspian Sea is becoming an important part of these plans and an object of seizure. The first sign in this direction can be called the Caspian Digital Hub project. It involves laying an underwater fiber-optic cable along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. The lines themselves coincide with geopolitical routes aimed at bypassing Russia.
In this “digitalization” project, Azerbaijan, the USA and the UK play a leading role with the aim of information capture of the Caspian region. Taking into account new technologies, this makes it possible for the United States to establish its dominance, actively using Azerbaijan and Turkey as cover for these purposes. Back in May of the year before last, Kazakh diplomats and British firms agreed to increase its planned capacity to two data processing centers - in Aktau in Kazakhstan and Baku in Azerbaijan.
In fact, after the implementation of the plan, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will be turned into the main regional hub of American digital technologies and will only accelerate, as conductors, further Turkish and, accordingly, Western expansion in the region. If the construction of American military bases in the Caspian Sea was postponed due to the signing of an agreement by the countries of the region on the division of the reservoir, then such information projects and plans for the construction of pipelines with the participation of Turkey, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are precisely returning the US presence.
It is no coincidence that on March 31, the Organization of Turkic States was established in Kazakh Turkestan, which should be finalized at the summit in Istanbul. But already now, within the framework of the Turkic Council, a council of energy ministers has been created, which are practically discussing and planning the construction of new routes through the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan towards Turkey.
True, Washington, London and Ankara did not take into account the military power and determination of Russia, which will not sit back and silently watch the development of a hostile configuration in the Caspian region, as well as the weight of Iran, which is now trying with all its might to escape the grip of sanctions and international isolation. Tehran itself is building a route north through the Caspian Sea to Russian and Azerbaijani ports and using land transport routes that Baku is forced to support.
At the beginning of the year, Iran announced through the Minister of Foreign Affairs about its interest in immediate integration with the EAEU, which creates a serious counterbalance to Turkey’s aspirations and could disrupt its plans for the geopolitical takeover of Turkmenistan as an important player in the region. Ashgabat, under the influence of Tehran and under the threat of a military invasion by Islamists from Afghanistan, had already begun to seriously hesitate and never fully entered the Turkic Council, preferring the purchase of Russian weapons and negotiations with Moscow.
In an era when the “gunboat policy” at a new military-technical level of development is returning to the world geostrategic stage, the powerful Russian flotilla in the Caspian Sea is becoming the burden that can weigh in the balance all the pipeline and information projects of Turkey and the United States. Periodic joint exercises between Russian and Iranian sailors, as well as the emergence of new naval bases in Prikaspiisk and Makhachkala, should show NATO countries and their puppets that they will not get the Caspian Sea as a “gift.”
In fact, Sergei Shoigu’s visit to Dagestan demonstrates to Baku, Nur-Sultan and Ashgabat, not to mention external players, that the military balance of power remains firmly with Russia and is even strengthening. Not understanding this means following the path of adventurism and dooming yourself to inevitable collapse.
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