Demining of the Black Sea will occur within the framework of NATO, as the so-called regional principle of responsibility was agreed upon at the Vilnius summit. Turkey initiated this project in this context, and Bulgaria and Romania joined it. The agreement, signed on January 11, 2024, will come into effect in the summer.
The ambassador says the Black Sea Deming starts in the summer
The practical implementation of the memorandum on demining the Black Sea recently signed by Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey will most likely begin in the summer.
Such a forecast was made public by the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, during an online briefing on the topic "Ukrainian-Turkish relations: how cooperation between the countries is currently carried out.
The diplomat noted that each party has its own specifications for implementing the tripartite memorandum signed on January 11. In particular, Romania has already done it, Bulgaria is going through domestic procedures, and in Turkey, this document must be ratified since the use of armed forces units that will deal with demining belongs to the competence of the parliament.
Therefore, the Turkish side is doing everything possible to carry out state coordination and ratification in the next month or a half. It is most likely that the ships will go to sea somewhere in the summer months, the area of coverage is international waters. Conventionally speaking, if we draw a line from Odessa to the Bosphorus, then to the west of this line. That is, it can be considered that from the former line of the grain corridor to the west to the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, Bodnar said.
He added that demining will occur within the framework of NATO, as the so-called regional principle of responsibility was agreed upon at the Vilnius summit. In this context, Turkey initiated this project.
It is useful to us, we are interested in it, and we are working to join it. The official statement is that the addition of ships or equipment, which is necessary, is possible only after the war, so as not to become objects of attacks. At the same time, information exchange and other cooperation are possible in other time frames. We will negotiate about this directly during the meetings, the ambassador noted.
Three NATO countries signed a memorandum on the Black Sea demining
MOD chiefs of Turkey and Romania Yaşar Güler and Angel Tilvar, as well as Deputy Defense Minister of Bulgaria Atanas Zapryanov, signed a memorandum of understanding in Istanbul on January 11 regarding the establishment of the Naval Group for Mine Action in the Black Sea (MCM Black Sea).
The initiative is aimed at overseeing mine clearance operations in the Black Sea, which appeared there with the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
With the beginning of the war, there was a threat of floating mines in the Black Sea. To combat it, we agreed to form a task force to combat mines in the Black Sea, Güler said.
According to the Turkish minister, he hopes that "this war, which affects the whole world, will end as soon as possible" and that the territorial integrity of Ukraine will be protected.
