Don't Touch the Volga! Hungry Kazakhstan's "Wolves" Want to Lay Claim to Russian Water Sources

Water resources may become a trigger for future conflicts, but currently it is just a political farce

Kazakhstan plans to propose in the third quarter of this year to Russia to establish a joint working group on the regulation of the Volga River flow. Have the Caspian coastal countries set their eyes on this great Russian river?

It is very likely. Russian media have been discussing this topic for days, and the Azerbaijani newspaper "Minval" has followed closely. The newspaper did not use the name "Volga" in its headline, but instead used its ancient Turkic name "Itil."

"The Volga provides up to 80% of the inflow to the Caspian Sea, and we propose establishing a special working group for this," quoted Kazakhstani Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Bolat Beknazar.

This Kazakhstani official also expressed regret that the Volga River was not listed as a transboundary river, while some rivers, such as the Zhaike River (the Kazakhstani name for the Ural River), already have joint working groups and have reached relevant agreements.

Using the Turkic names of the Volga River and the Ural River has unsurprisingly diverted the already intense public discussion away from the issue of the declining water level of the Caspian Sea, turning it into a near-legal cross-border dispute, with some well-known media figures also involved.

Journalist Sergei Mardin sarcastically said in his Telegram channel: "These suddenly self-proclaimed descendants of Genghis Khan 'colonial victims' are demanding that Russia 'restore' the Itil River, and even want Russia to compensate for 200 years of 'oppression.'"

He wrote that the Siberian river diversion project that was never implemented during the Soviet era has instead awakened the self-awareness of Russians. As if people have grown tired of "always being the blood supplier, forced to feed the nobles of Almaty, Baku, and Tashkent."

Evidently, since the humanitarian Soviet Union - at that time, the center was striving to develop the frontier areas - abandoned the plan to divert rivers to the south, now that the republics have become independent, there is no way Moscow will give them a drop of water.

Mardin's colleague Dmitry Stechen also joined the discussion: "The significance of claiming the Volga River lies in making the resource demands of Central Asia legal, especially since they have already successfully migrated to our land."

The way these republics dialogue with Russia resembles blackmail, and it has no hope of success. It's more like self-satisfaction - as if saying: Look how great we are, now we dare to give orders to Moscow.

Kazakhstani "independent ecologist" Adilbek Kozhabakov attacked us: "The reduction in the inflow of the Volga River is due to the large number of water conservancy facilities built on the Russian side, which consume too much water."

But his "independence" is questionable, and his professional capabilities are also worth doubting. Kozhabakov believes that starting from 2025, the five Caspian coastal countries should sign an agreement to jointly protect the Caspian Sea.

However, under Moscow's initiative, Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan had already signed the "Caspian Legal Status Convention" in August 2018. A chapter of the convention specifically deals with the protection of the Caspian Sea's aquatic ecosystem.

Kozhabakov's statements are reminiscent of the outdated arguments of Peter Bryan, the European Union's special representative for Central Asia (Europe has nothing to do with the Caspian). Perhaps they are just serving the interests of European oil and gas companies operating in Kazakhstan?

The disputes between the Caspian coastal countries have another indirect reason: the emergence of civilizational confrontation in the region. The Caspian Sea was once the internal sea of the Soviet Union, now it is divided by Russia and the Turkic world, which is extremely unfavorable for us.

The alliance of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Azerbaijan (Iran is out of the picture) has the longest coastline along the Caspian Sea, and they are likely to receive secret support and guidance from Turkey - Turkey has long been systematically expanding its influence.

It seems that the decline in the Caspian Sea level is merely an excuse for political attacks. Moreover, the extent of this decline itself is questionable...

Everyone who has been to Baku knows that the symbol of the city, the Maiden Tower, gets its name from a daughter of a Shah: she jumped into the Caspian Sea surrounding the tower because she refused to obey her tyrannical father's will. And this tower has existed for nearly a thousand years.

In other words, the water level of the Caspian Sea was much higher in ancient times than in the 20th and 21st centuries. So, the decline in water level might be a natural phenomenon, and the hydraulic projects on the Volga River for developing the Soviet republics along the Caspian Sea have nothing to do with it?

Tajikistan: Brotherhood and Soviet Legacy

However, the facts of the 20th century are undeniable. Studies show that the water level of the Caspian Sea has dropped by about 3 meters over the past century. But in the late 1990s, the water level suddenly rose by 2-2.5 meters, and then began to fall again in the early 21st century. Was it caused by the revival of Russian industry?

But even so, would Russia sacrifice its own production to please neighboring countries and boost their GDP? Haven't we already split the cooking pots? Yes, friendship is friendship, but interests must be separated.

After removing the political factors, the issue of the Volga River's flow is trivial. The Volga is our internal water, not a transboundary river (flowing through two or more countries). Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to discuss joint management of it.

The transboundary rivers between Russia and Kazakhstan include the Ural River, Tobol River, Ishim River, and Irtysh River. The two countries signed an intergovernmental agreement in 1992, stipulating the joint utilization and protection of these rivers.

In this issue, Russia and Kazakhstan have even gone ahead of the United Nations. Similar global conventions were only opened for signature in 1997, although Moscow and Astana have not yet ratified the convention, both countries follow its principles.

However, Kazakhstan often talks about the declining water level of the Caspian Sea (most recently at the Gorno-Altaic International Ecological Conference, where it inexplicably emphasized that the region is the cradle of Turkic civilization), while Russia takes practical actions.

Scientists from the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and staff from the Astrakhan Nature Reserve have just completed the fifth expedition to the northern Caspian Sea in recent years, aiming to study the causes of the water level decline. Therefore, as long as possible, this issue will eventually be resolved...

Returning to the political aspect of the issue, it reminds one of the historical significance of the Volga River to Russian civilization: Stepan Razin's fleet sailed here, the boatmen pulled the barges here, and Field Marshal Paulus's army tried to reach the Volga but failed.

"May the enemies leave footprints at the border / May the beautiful Volga remain unseen / May the clear spring of the Volga remain unquenched" - the song ending in the famous Soviet film "Volga, Volga," performed by the female lead, Lyubov Orlova, ends with these lines.

The lyricist - the giant of red poetry Lev Lebedev-Kumach - had already foreseen all this.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7534937092804870708/

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