Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan row over border incident

A diplomatic row has broken out between two former Soviet nations over a disputed oil-rich section of the Caspian Sea.

Turkmenistan said Tuesday it has formally complained about what it described as the Azerbaijan border patrol's illegal interception of a Turkmen ship carrying out scientific work.

Azerbaijan says Turkmenistan was violating a previous agreement not to conduct seismic experiments in the area of an offshore oil field claimed by both nations.

Relations between the two have been strained since independence, but had improved in recent years.

The European Union is currently helping to broker an agreement between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to pave the way for an undersea pipeline linking the countries that could one day carry Turkmen gas toward Europe.

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