Abstract:

The article is devoted to the study of the trends and features of the seaside complex transformation in the Caspian region in general and its Russian segment in particular. The study analyzed and conceptualized the patterns of the Eurasian "centers of power" participation in the region’s post-Soviet period development, revealed the current policy trends, as well as the impact of such transformations on the marine economic complex of the Caspian countries. In the post-USSR period the United States and the EU, as well as Turkey, which tried to play the role of the Turkic world leader, played the most active role in shaping the politics and economy in the region. The key interests of the world powers were the development and transportation of hydrocarbons from the Caspian basin, as well as international security issues. The significant transformation of the leaders’ interests and points of view in relation to the resources of the region and coastal countries in recent years has caused the power balance reformatting. Thus, the global leadership of the United States in gas production since 2018 and the transformation of the country into a global exporter of raw materials, combined with the curtailment of military operations in the Middle East, has led to weakening of the US position. At the same time, the interests of the EU were concentrated in the oil and gas sector, which turned Turkey into an exclusive gas hub for Europe on the way from the Caspian basin to Europe. At the same time, the attitude of China, interested in supplying oil and gas from the Caspian countries has been formed and consolidated in the region. China also plays the role of an integrator in the region (through the “One Belt, One Road” policy) of communication. The additional factor in strengthening China’s position and enhancing the interaction of the Caspian countries are the US sanctions against Russia and Iran. That fact forces them to seek partners in each other and in relations with China. Russia's policy in this regard is to consolidate the marine economic complex of its Caspian regions. Their key specialization is oil and gas, shipbuilding, agriculture and fisheries. A special place in the Russia's competitive potential realization is occupied by the North-South transport corridor on the way from Europe to Iran, Pakistan and India. However, the consolidation of the Russian position in the Caspian Sea faces such problems as: natural geography (shipping conditions in the north of the Caspian Sea), economic (peripheral economies of the Caspian regions in Russia), institutional. Solving institutional problems and shaping a structured strategy for the Caspian regions development, taking into account the China region strengthening and changing interests of the United States and the EU, are singled out as vectors of an adequate response of the Russian marine industry to changing the balance of the Eurasian "centers of power" in the Caspian region.