Türkiye is set to work with Romania and Bulgaria against the threat of floating mines in the Black Sea due to war between Russia and Ukraine, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry gave no details of how it would address the floating mine problem. It said on social media platform X that the three countries had discussed the issue at the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels.
Last week, the British government said Russia may use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea, including by laying them on the approach to Ukrainian ports. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of planting mines off the Ukrainian coast.
The Black Sea is crucial for shipping grain, oil and oil products. It’s bordered by Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia and Türkiye, as well as Ukraine and Russia, which have been at war since President Vladimir Putin’s troops invaded the country’s southern neighbor.
Türkiye, Romania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Poland and Ukraine previously discussed clearing floating mines in April 2022. Since then, Turkish and Romanian military diving teams have defused dozens of stray mines around their waters.
Maritime officials say the risk of coming across floating mines in the major Black Sea shipping route adds perils for merchant ships sailing in the region, and governments must ensure safe passage to keep supply chains running.
Türkiye is also working with the United Nations, Ukraine and Russia to revive the Black Sea grain initiative that Moscow quit earlier in July. The deal was brokered by Ankara and the U.N. last year to combat a global food crisis that the world body said was worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – both leading global grain exporters.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Moscow left the initiative because promises made to Russia – including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system – had not been met. Moscow has also complained its food and fertilizer exports, while not subject to Western sanctions, faced obstacles and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.
Ukrainian ports across the Danube River have since become a vital export corridor for grain, and Russia has targeted the route with regular airstrikes.
Ukraine in August announced a “humanitarian corridor” to release ships trapped in its ports and to circumvent a de facto blockade. Ankara opposes any alternative route for Ukrainian exports, often promoted by Ukraine and other Western states, on safety grounds. It wants the West to accept some Russian demands and for Russia to drop others to resume exports under U.N. and Turkish oversight.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been speaking with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts on the issue. In early September, he met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi to try to convince Moscow to reconsider its abandonment of the grain deal. He has said he remained yet “hopeful” about a solution.
