Iran and Russia Linked Across the Caspian Sea
By Aiswarya Lakshmi
Monday, June 8, 2015
A subsidiary of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has launched a series of new routes across the Caspian linking Russia and Kazakhstan, reports Informatore Navale.
This initiative will bring six sailings per month for new services. The line has been the subject of sanctions by Western countries for a couple of years that forced to seek new markets. The growth of trade between Iran and neighboring countries, Central Asia, has soared in recent years.
The Caspian are assigned simultaneously the titles of the lake and the sea closed .It is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth, and is often ranked as the largest lake in the world.
Russia and Iran, heirs of the previous contracts, are not interested in recognizing it as the sea, while the new states emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union insist on recognition of the status of the sea.