Deputy foreign minister Viktor Kalyuzhny cited environmental reasons as the main argument for banning pipelines. We view the construction of pipelines through the Caspian negatively, first of all because of this seas uniqueness, and secondly because of the geodynamic situation, he said in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. We would like to risk as little as possible with these things. Kalyuzhny said Russia would seek a pipeline ban as part of a future convention on the Caspian Seas status. Construction of the pipeline between Baku and the Turkish port of Ceyhan began last year, and the first oil is scheduled to flow through it in 2005. The pipeline, which circumvents Russia, is backed by Washington as a way to improve access to oil outside the Middle East. The Kazakh port of Aktau, across the Caspian from Baku, is to be linked to this line by a new subsea pipeline. Up to 1991, the Caspians status was governed by treaties between the Soviet Union and Iran. But since the Soviet collapse, the five states that border the sea (Russia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan) have failed to reach a new agreement. Iran has sought to maintain its control, while Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan want to divide the seabed equally. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia are understood to have signed bilateral agreements with one another dividing what they consider to be their portion of the seabed, and the three countries have drafted a trilateral agreement on the basis of the earlier bilateral deals.