BREAKING EXCLUSIVE Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey discuss formation of joint NATO force for Black Sea mine dredging, Alliance official confirms

Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are discussing the creation of a joint force to remove any mines floating in their territorial waters as a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, Boris Ruge, NATO’s deputy secretary general for political affairs and security policy, confirmed exclusively for G4Media.ro on Tuesday.

The information was first published by Bloomberg, citing three sources familiar with the talks.

„To be honest, I know these discussions are taking place between the three governments. I think it’s a very welcome initiative, but I can’t give you details

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It is an initiative between these three governments, as far as I understand. If we could reduce the number of mines and make the Black Sea a little bit safer and ensure freedom of navigation, I think that’s something that everybody within NATO would support. As we know, there are certain limitations in the Black Sea because of the Montreux Convention.

It imposes certain limits on what NATO can do and the presence of ships in the Black Sea. But anything that can be done to help our three allies here in the Black Sea I think would be very welcome,” Ruge told G4Media.ro.

„The Black Sea is an area of strategic importance for NATO. We have three allies bordering the Black Sea, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. We have two NATO partners, Ukraine and Georgia, which are also Black Sea littoral states. We face many challenges, including in the area of mines in the Black Sea.

Our interest is to maintain freedom of navigation, safety and security in the Black Sea, and this is also an issue that we are constantly discussing within NATO. There are some things that are done by NATO, there are some things that are done by Romania, Bulgaria, Türkiye, working as three partner states. So it (Black Sea security – ed.) is very much on our agenda,” the NATO official added.

Background

The three NATO members are still working out the details, but they could set up the unit as early as next month, according to two of the officials consulted by Bloomberg, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private.

As Russia’s attacks on Ukraine draw ever closer to NATO’s borders, the alliance is trying to balance its response to the incidents to avoid further escalation. Everything from drone fragments to at least 12 mines carried by currents threaten to invade the territory of the only three NATO countries with direct access to the Black Sea, a major trade route, forcing them to step up their defences.

Although not a NATO operation per se, the joint sea mine removal force would be the first major combined effort among allies in the Black Sea since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. It comes at a time when the allies face increasingly provocative Russian behavior in the region, as well as incidents that appear to be accidental spills.

The new force is intended to be entirely peaceful and will not bring new NATO ships to sea, two of the officials told Bloomberg. One of the goals of the mission is to show that the three countries are capable of tackling the problem on their own, another official said.

NATO allies have stepped up surveillance and reconnaissance in the region since the war began, but not maritime maritime activity. Turkey has invoked an international agreement that allows warships belonging only to Black Sea littoral states to pass through the region and not to other countries, including NATO allies, to prevent the conflict from escalating.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has increasingly threatened the transport of raw materials through the Black Sea. Both countries are major grain producers, although Russia has tried to block Ukraine’s exports, while a significant share of Russian oil passes through sea routes. For more than two months this year, Russia has hampered commercial traffic by announcing a military exercise that would make parts of the exclusive Bulgarian and Turkish channels economically dangerous for shipping.