MOSCOW, December 15. /TASS/. Russia hopes that Iran will ratify the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea before the summit of the Caspian littoral states due to take place in Tehran in August 2026, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

According to the top Russian diplomat, all other Caspian littoral states have ratified the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea. "Now it is up to Iran. Amid the turbulent developments in the world and around this part of Eurasia, it is important to ultimately fix the principle of non-interference into the affairs of this region by non-Caspian states. That is why we hope that Tehran will ratify this convention," he said in an interview with Iran’s State Television and Radio corporation.

He recalled that "Iran has come out with an initiative to call a summit of Caspian littoral states in Tehran in August 2026." "I hope the convention will be fully effective in terms of international law by this summit," he added.

"We have great plans with Iran concerning the development of our shared geo-economic space in the context of the tendencies in Eurasia where integration processes are becoming more intensive and, I would say, more competitive," Lavrov noted.

"The Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea was signed during the previous summit of the Caspian littoral states in 2018. It says that all issues related to the use of the Caspian region’s resources, environmental protection, the use of structures guaranteeing security are to be addressed solely by the five littoral states. This is the pivotal principle," he emphasized.