Patrushev Calls for Strengthening Russia’s Position on the Caspian

Paul Goble    
    Staunton, Nov. 15 – Nikolay Patrushev, former secretary of Russia’s National Security Council and currently head of its Naval Collegium, has called for a significant strengthening of Russia’s defense capacity on the Caspian to counter what he says are threats coming from NATO and Western special services more generally.
    At a meeting in Dagestan, he called for strengthening the FSB’s forces in the region so as to guard Russia’s borders; but his real concerns almost certainly lie elsewhere and are focused on expanding the power of Russia’s Caspian Flotilla and its ability to determine which trade routes operate (casp-geo.ru/nikolaj-patrushev-prizval-usilit-ohranu-rossijskoj-granitsy-na-kaspii/).
    In Soviet times, Moscow treated the Caspian as a Russian lake; but since 1991, the other littoral states have developed their navies to the point that Russia’s position has been challenged (jamestown.org/program/russias-caspian-flotilla-no-longer-only-force-that-matters-there/, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/01/russia-not-keeping-up-with-naval-build.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/10/kazakhstan-navy-demonstrates-growing.html, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2023/12/iran-launches-new-flagship-for-its.html and  windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2021/07/azerbaijani-naval-exercises-highlight.html).
    Two years ago, the Russian naval doctrine was updated to include a section calling for the expansion of the Caspian Flotilla (jamestown.org/program/new-russian-naval-doctrine-assigns-expanded-role-to-caspian-flotilla/). Patrushev’s words are a sign that Moscow has not achieved what it wants and that it will devote far more attention to this as funds become available.
    Any such Russian moves have the potential to trigger a new naval competition on the Caspian and complicate the flow of oil and gas as well as other goods in both the east-west and north-south axes.