The Security Regime of the Caspian Sea after the Disintegration of the Soviet Union till 2009: The Obstacles and the Challenges

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 the littoral states of the Caspian Sea got independence. These countries got a new and special geopolitics, economic, security and cultural position. The birth of the new states brought a change in international system. The big powers and the littoral and contagious states also faced new problems. The presence of extra-regional powers like the United States and its allies like Israel, Turkey and Azerbaijan added to the complicacy of the problems.There are international issues which have its impact on the Caspian Sea region. These issues are the expansion of NATO towards east, the installation of missile defence shield in Eastern Europe with the aim of extension of their influence to the Caspian Sea region. The attitudes of Iran, Russia and China towards the developments of this region are among the important developments which have so far taken place. Some of the observers believe that a new cold war has started. The main question which the present article is raising is what are the obstacles and challenges before the security regime of the Caspian Sea region? The hypothesis of the article emphasizes on the point that the competition of the United States, Russia, China and Iran has created obstacles and challenge for the formation of security regime of the Caspian Sea security regime. The article is also examining the repercussions of these competitions on the process of formation of security regime of the Caspian Sea region.