Bulgaria is looking to set up an action group with Romania and Türkiye to remove floating mines in the Black Sea, the country’s Defense Minister Todor Tagarev said on Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO ministers of defense in Brussels.
"We have been working for about two months. We have agreed in principle to establish a mine action group. Maybe after the upcoming meeting in Türkiye, this operation will start contributing to our security," Tagarev told reporters.
Similarly, the Turkish Defense Ministry on Wednesday assured the three countries would work together against floating mines without specifying how it would address the problem that has become more prominent with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Last week, the British government said Russia may use sea mines to target civilian shipping in the Black Sea 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 is 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 crossing 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.
Citing "unfulfilled" promises to Moscow, Russia has also complained that its food and fertilizer exports, while not subject to Western sanctions, faced obstacles and that insufficient Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.
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 convince Moscow to reconsider abandoning the grain deal. He has said he remained "hopeful" about a solution, although Ukraine has been working on a "humanitarian corridor" since August to circumvent the de facto blockade on its ports.