Sea Demarcation Long Process

Reaching compromise on the issue of sea demarcation will be a long process, Lieutenant General Alexander Manilov, head of the International Legal Department of the Russian Federal Frontier Service, told journalists on Tuesday.

"A number of issues on maritime space demarcation are still open," the official reminded those present. In particular, Russia is negotiating the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait with Ukraine, the Caspian Sea with the four Caspian states, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran, and lastly, the Barents Sea with Norway.

Touching upon the Shevardnadze-Baker line (after the then Foreign Minister of the USSR and the US Secretary of State, who signed an agreement on demarcation of the maritime space of the Barents Sea in 1990, according to which a considerable part of the water area came to belong to the US), Manilov stressed that the US Border Guards Service and the Russian Federal Frontier Service cooperate on the basis of regulations, signed by the sides, stipulating coordination of actions within adjacent zones. This allows to carry out joint actions, especially, to detain lawbreakers, the official underlined.