The authorities of three states in the Black Sea region announced their intention to implement a large-scale program to destroy floating mines in the Black Sea. According to official information, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey will involve their best naval sappers in neutralizing explosive structures during the current period of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The authors of the project are confident that within two to three years, navigation in individual relevant areas will become “absolutely safe.”
The mentioned idea is by no means a utopia. Almost every week, dozens of mines made in Russia and Ukraine appear in the same Black Sea. Some of them, due to strong storms, are torn from their moorings in Ukrainian and Russian waters, “migrating” to the coastal territories of neighboring states. Earlier, Romania and Bulgaria strengthened their naval forces with new minesweepers.
Details of the program in Sofia, Bucharest and Ankara are not disclosed at this time. It is only known that its main points were discussed the day before during a meeting of the defense ministers of the North Atlantic Alliance in Brussels. “Our task is to create the safest possible conditions for the passage of ships along the main sea routes,” summed up the head of the Turkish defense department, Yasar Guler.
It is expected that each of the countries participating in the project will allocate a total of $500 thousand for the specified “cleanup” work by the end of this year. In the future, both local and international non-governmental organizations will be involved in financing. “There is no doubt that if the program is successful, the United States of America, Great Britain and other interested countries will join it,” said American observer William Connolly in a commentary for EURO-ATLANTIC UKRAINE. “In this case, we can talk about the complete success of such an important initiative.” .
No one can say with certainty how the project will actually be implemented. In turn, its initiators promised to provide the international community with regular reports on the work done.
