The Trans-Caspian Pipeline Is Causing Tensions Between Russia And It's Neighbors

The Trans-Caspian Pipeline

Would Russia Go To War Over The Trans-Caspian Pipeline? -- Eurasianet.org

That seems unlikely, but it's a possibility that some Russian analysts have been discussing lately, as discussions between Turkmenistan and its would-be European partners over the pipeline have advanced.

For example, in an article in Nezavisimaya Gazeta and translated in Itar-Tass:

The building of TCP will mean de-facto the recognition of the division of the Caspian Sea into sectors. This is absolutely unacceptable for Russia, and it will have to take action, similar to the operation for the compelling of Georgia to peace. “This time it will have to compel Ashkhabad and Baku to observe international law, probably, with the help of air strikes, if they do not understand any other language. Remembering what NATO did in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Russia has no barriers, moral or legal ones, for the use of force in the Caspian Sea,” [Mikheil] Alexandrov [of the Institute of CIS Countries] believes.

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My Comment: Ignoring the tens of billions in dollars that are involved in such a project .... it`s completion will severely impact Russian political and economic leverage on neighboring states that are dependent on Russian natural gas. A prospect that I am sure Moscow is not going to entertain favorably.