Territorial waters are ... Territorial waters of the Russian Federation

Territorial waters are part of the coastal water area subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of a particular state. The United Nations Organization clearly defined the width of the zone - 12 nautical miles, measured from the shoreline at the time of the low tide.

Inland waters

Territorial waters are also internal waters, including rivers, lakes, narrow bays, fjords, etc. There is absolute sovereignty, not subject to the rules of the Maritime Convention.

The water area between the islands of the archipelagos under certain conditions is internal waters. A number of countries (Indonesia, Philippines) have an extensive internal zone, which imposes restrictions on the passage of foreign vessels. In order not to impede navigation, the government approves sea corridors for simplified navigation.

Territorial sea

The part of the sea (ocean) is officially considered to be territorial within the 12-mile zone adopted by the UN. Neighboring countries by sea usually agree in a bilateral format on the delimitation of zones of responsibility. If it is not possible to negotiate, the boundary is determined by equidistant points from land sections.

In practice, some states interpret maritime law in their own way, including in an exclusive sovereign zone of the water area outside the territorial sea. The causes of disputes are biological resources, natural resources, strategic position.

Adjacent zone

Territorial waters of the state have a continuation in the form of a contiguous zone, also defined at 12 miles. A peculiar buffer is created as a checkpoint. Here the border forces can partly control navigation, catch poachers and pirates, and identify violators of sanitary, migration, customs laws.

Military vessels of foreign countries, as a rule, should receive permission to overcome the contiguous zone, and submarines - to move in the surface position. However, the requirements are not clearly spelled out and are regulated in part by regional agreements, or "the right of the strong."

Exclusive Economic Zone

Territorial waters are not only a 24-mile area of special responsibility. National states have the right of primary development, the so-called exclusive economic zone. It extends for 370 km (200 nautical miles) from the coastline (or inland waters), if there are no territorial restrictions in the form of the maritime boundaries of neighboring countries.

The state in the EEZ can individually extract (or with partners) minerals, develop hydrocarbon deposits, fish and other seafood, build wind and tidal power stations, conduct geological exploration, etc. It is even permissible to erect artificial islands and use them economically.

Meanwhile, the law of the sea prohibits to prevent air travel and peaceful passage of vessels of other countries. It is allowed to lay the means of communications, pipelines. Also, the party undertakes to protect the natural environment, to eliminate the consequences of environmental disasters.

Shelf zone

The territorial sea also includes part of the extended continental shelf. Powers of states within the shelf zone are in many respects similar to those of the EEZ. These territories may overlap, in which case the rules of economic zones are a priority.

If the shelf extends beyond the exclusive economic zone and is proved to be a submarine continuation of the continental part of the country, the state has the power to extract natural resources, to fish, etc. The economic zone extends beyond the EEZ from 200 to 350 nautical miles from the coastline.

Territorial waters of Russia

The Russian Federation controls a vast sea area. The border stretches for 38,800 km. The inner waters include the White Sea, Cheshskaya Bay, Pechora Bay. The Sea of Okhotsk, thanks to the Kuril ridge, is also part of the territorial waters with an exclusive zone of responsibility. Here it is forbidden to fish to other countries without special permits.

The economic zone occupies over 4 million km ² . It fully includes the seas:

• Karsky;
• Laptevs;
• East Siberian;
• The Okhotsk;
• White.

Partially:

• Black;
• The Azov;
• The Caspian;
• The Baltic;
• Barents;
• Chukchi;
• Beringovo;
• Japanese;
• Pacific Ocean;
• Arctic.

This territory in the future will become the locomotive of the economy. The biological resources of the waters are enormous. Shelfs have the richest reserves of mineral and ore raw materials, oil and gas. It is planned to build underwater robotic cities-plants, where they will extract, transport, partially process the land's gifts.

Conflict situations

Territorial waters are a zone subject to the rules of the Maritime Convention. But not all subjects certainly follow its provisions. Often the delimitation of the territorial sea between neighbors translates into diplomatic, even military conflicts.

For example, the USA and Libya twice (1981, 1989) collided in a dispute over the delineation of the Cider Bay. He goes deep into the territory of Africa, but wide enough to fall into a zone of exclusive sovereignty, but Libya considered him his own. Recent years can not divide the boundaries of the territorial waters of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. Diplomatic conflict is accompanied by the threat of a military clash.

Many years of disputes have been observed between Turkey and Greece, Japan and China, Indonesia and Timor. The section of the South China Sea can provoke large-scale wars between China, Vietnam, the Philippines, the US and other parties.

The Battle for the Arctic

Old disputes are unfolding between the circumpolar countries. For example, the territorial waters of Russia by the partner countries and Russia itself are differentiated in different ways. The Russian Federation regards the territory as a zone of strategic interests from the external borders of the Murmansk region and Chukotka to the North Pole. Norway, Canada, the United States and a number of others require the reduction of the zone, according to the rules of the Convention. Meanwhile, the US and Canada themselves freely interpret these rules when it comes to strategic interests.

Shelves are rich in fossils, and therefore are subjects of interstate disputes. For example, Russian hydrologists conducted unique studies in the 2000s that proved the belonging of the underwater ridges of Mendeleev, Lomonosov and the Chukchi Plateau to the Asian continental shelf. In part of the territory, Greenland (Denmark) claimed. The expedition of 2007 allowed documenting the economic interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region.

Since 2010 Canada has been seeking to expand the continental shelf due to the Arctic underwater territories. In particular, they consider part of the Mendeleev uplift as a continuation of the North American continent. Nor does Denmark renounce its claims. These decisions forced Russia to revive the military bases on the northern islands: Novosibirsk, Franz Joseph, Novaya Zemlya and others to protect interests. Consultations of 2015-2016 do not exclude compromise solutions for the division of shelves.

Similar conflicts are observed in the waters of Antarctica, as a number of states (Chile, Argentina, Norway, etc.) consider part of the continent as a sovereign territory. This contradicts the decisions of the United Nations, which recognized the ice continent as a neutral zone. In general, three dozen countries have claims to delimitation of maritime boundaries.