An agreement on a joint plan to neutralize mines floating in the Black Sea as a result of the war in Ukraine was signed today, Thursday (11/1) by Turkeythe Romania and the Bulgaria after months of talks.
Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler, his Romanian counterpart Angel Tilvar and Bulgarian Deputy Defense Minister Atanas Zaprianov signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul to establish a tripartite initiative to neutralize these explosive devices.
“With the start of the war, a threat was presented by mines floating in the Black Sea. In order to combat it… we agreed to set up a mine countermeasures groupYasar Guler pointed out during the signing ceremony as reported by the Athens News Agency citing Reuters and AFP.
Sea mines have been a threat to Ukraine's Black Sea export routes since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, and several ships have been hit by them, including a cargo ship heading to a port on the Danube River to load grain in December.
Three minesweepers from each country and one command and control ship will take action under the initiative, a Turkish Defense Ministry official said.
Naval commanders from the three countries will form a committee to manage the operation, Guler said, adding that it could include other Black Sea countries once the war in Ukraine ends.
Guler stressed that Turkey considers “valuable” positive contributions to this initiative from non-NATO Black Sea allies, but the initiative will only be open to ships from the “three littoral allied countries.”
Turkey said last week it would not allow two minesweepers donated by Britain to Ukraine to pass through its territorial waters in the Black Sea, saying they would violate the Treaty of Montreux (1936), an international agreement on transit through straits of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles among others and in time of war.
“As Turkey, we have implemented the Montreux Treaty carefully, responsibly and impartially, which ensures balance in the Black Sea” he argued.
Defense ministers from the three Black Sea countries held talks on a demining plan at a NATO summit in Brussels in October and Ankara in November 2023 as they worked to finalize the initiative.
Ankara, which maintains good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, is also working with the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to revive the Black Sea grain initiative that Moscow withdrew from last year, although there appears to be no public sign of progress in these talks.
Source: News Beast
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