Russia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan signed a landmark agreement today to build a natural gas pipeline along the Caspian Sea coast that would strengthen Moscow's monopoly on energy exports from the resource-rich region.

The presidents of Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan have agreed to build a natural gas pipeline along the Caspian sea coast. The landmark deak was agreed today during three-way talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev in the coastal Turkmen city of Turkmenbashi.