MOSCOW, December 14 (AVN) - Army General Andrei Nikolayev, chairman of the defence committee of the State Duma lower house of Russian parliament, met Ali Ahani, Iranian deputy foreign minister who came to Moscow to prepare the visit of the Iranian president.
Nikolayev said commenting on results of the meeting that he suggested that the Caspian Sea should me totally demilitarised. According to him, it was necessary only to keep border boats, rescue and fish protection forces. The demilitarisation process will be conducted in several stages if all the Caspian states agree. The first stage is ban on strengthening navies in the Caspian Sea, the second one is ban on use of submarines and ships capable of having missile, torpedo or mine weapons, the third stage is total demilitarisation of the Caspian region.
Ali Ahani in his turn expressed two interesting proposals. Iran thinks it is necessary to hold a quadrilateral meeting China - India - Russia - Iran on regional security issues. If participants of the meeting manage to develop a unified position, it will help to prevent NATO expansion in the region. The other proposal is to organise a meeting between former Soviet Trans Caucasus republics (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan), Russia, Iran and possibly Turkey to discuss security in the Trans Caucasus.
Nikolayev said both meetings must be held. He added that Central Asian states are to take part in the regional meeting.