Russia advocates the settlement of the situation between Greece and Turkey on the issue of division of territorial waters and shelf in the Eastern Mediterranean exclusively through political dialogue and on the basis of international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Athens Macedonian News Agency (AMNA).
"Russia is in favor of resolving any contentious issues exclusively through political dialogue, through the development of confidence-building measures, the search for mutually acceptable solutions based on international legal norms," said Lavrov, answering the relevant question.
The Minister stressed that the position of Russia, which signed the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, is based on international legal norms contained in this document.
"In particular, Article 3 of the Convention provides that each state has the right to establish the width of its territorial sea to a limit not exceeding 12 nautical miles. In a number of cases, however, for one reason or another, countries have established a territorial sea of lesser width. If the question of delimitation of the territorial sea between neighboring states arises, it should be decided in accordance with international law," the head of the Foreign Ministry of Russia explained.
Greece does not recognize the memorandum of understanding concluded in November 2019 between Ankara and the government based in Tripoli on the delimitation of maritime zones between Turkey and Libya. According to the Greek Foreign Ministry, the document which contains the coordinates for the actual delimitation of the sea shelf and the exclusive economic zones of Turkey and Libya deprives the Greek islands that are between Turkey and Libya of the right to the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zones. In its turn, Greece concluded maritime delimitation agreements with Italy and Egypt this summer.
Ankara stated that it did not recognize the Greco-Egyptian agreement and sent its Oruc Reis research vessel accompanied by a group of warships for seismic exploration on the Greek sea shelf near the island of Kastellorizo.
On October 12, this vessel for the second time entered the area of exploration works which reaches 6,5 nautical miles from the coast of this island. Oruc Reis was guarded by a group of Turkish warships and it was already approaching Kastellorizo at the distance of 9-14 nautical miles. After the departure of Oruc Reis from Antalya and the Turkish ships from the bases, Greece again put on alert its navy and air force, saying it will defend its sovereign rights.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS